Dr. Misty Bentz studies nearby galaxies that host actively accreting black holes in their centers. Her research focuses on measuring the masses of the black holes and constraining the properties of the host galaxies, primarily using optical and near-IR imaging and spectroscopy from a variety of ground- and space-based telescopes. Potential student projects could include time domain analysis of repeated imaging or spectroscopy, two-dimensional fitting of high-resolution galaxy images, or modeling of light curves to constrain unresolvable structures using light echoes.

Her Research Website.

The RECONS group studies nearby stars and their environments, with a focus on the K and M dwarfs that are less massive than our Sun but make up 86% of all stars in the Milky Way. RECONS carries out research using SMARTS telescopes in Chile (as well as many others) that are used to observe stars via imaging and spectroscopy, providing deep datasets from which many projects can be derived. For Summer 2023, research projects would likely be focused on the companions to the K and M dwarfs — including other stars, brown dwarfs, and jovian planets — as well as the variability of the targeted stars.

His Research Website

Dr. Russel White studies how stars form and how they change over their lifetime.  He uses the observational techniques of spectroscopy and interferometry (with GSU’s CHARA Array) to measure star properties and constrain formation and evolution theories.  By searching for gas giant planets around many of these same stars, he also investigates how and why some giant planets migrate and become ‘hot Jupiters’. A REU student that works with Dr. White would most likely analyze spectroscopic or interferometric observations of stars in young clusters to learn about their properties (e.g. mass, age) and/or search for companions orbiting them.

His Research website.

The Remote Sensing for Space Sciences group in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Georgia State University conducts research that is focused on two branches of the field of remote sensing: Astronomy (including seismology of the sun and giant planets, and techniques for high-resolution imaging), and Space Domain Awareness (including characterization and surveillance of satellites in near-Earth orbit, image restoration and reconstruction, and imaging through strong turbulence). We design, build, and field instruments and have a well-equipped optics laboratory. We also conduct numerical simulations and develop custom algorithms for data reduction and analysis. Students working with our group have the opportunity to participate in a cross-disciplinary team with strong ties to researchers inside and outside of the academic world, both here in the USA and internationally.

His Research Website.

Dr. Mike Crenshaw studies the effects that active supermassive black holes in the centers of galaxies (often called active galactic nuclei or AGN) have on their hosts. His group focuses on outflows of ionized gas from AGN and their ability to remove potential star-forming gas, thereby controlling the growth of both the black hole and the galaxy. Potential student projects include imaging and/or spectroscopy of the emission-line regions in AGN using existing or new observations from the Hubble Space Telescope and/or the Apache Point Observatory (APO). Previous undergraduate students have traveled to the APO in New Mexico to obtain the observations, reduced the data, analyzed it, presented the results in AAS meetings, and co-authored papers in scientific journals.

His Research Website

Dr. Fabien Baron and his team are working on new algorithms and instruments to produce very high resolution astronomical images and movies using the Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy (CHARA) Array, a GSU-owned interferometer composed of six 1m telescopes and located on Mt Wilson. CHARA currently provides the sharpest angular resolution of any observatory in the world in visible and near-infrared, enabling the imaging of stellar surfaces (spots, convection patterns) and stellar environments (faint companions, disks). As part of your REU project you will work on real data and produce never-seen-before images!

His Research Website

Prof. Lepine’s research team is a participant in the Milky Way Mapper (MWM) program, part of the ongoing Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-V) now collecting data from observatories in the north and south hemispheres. The MWM program will be collecting spectra from hundreds of thousands of nearby stars within ~1,000 light years of the Sun. Our research interests range from analyzing these spectra to measure the chemical abundances in low-mass stars (K and M dwarfs), identify and study chromospherically active stars and binary systems, and measure the space motions of stars to determine their place of origin (young disk, old disk, halo, moving groups) in the Milky Way Galaxy.

His Research Website

The Nanoscience, Low Temperature and High Magnetic Field Laboratory located at the Natural Science Center serves to investigate the electronic properties of low dimensional systems at millikelvin temperatures, up to 14 Tesla magnetic fields, under microwave photoexcitation and dark conditions. Low dimensional systems under investigation include atomic layers of graphene, MoS2, WSe2, and GaAs/AlGaAs semiconductor heterostructures. Facilities are available to exfoliate and stack such atomic layer materials, and characterize the results by atomic force microscopy, scanning tunneling microscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. Electrical devices are fabricated by optical and electron beam lithography. Opportunities are available for students to participate in the exfoliation and stacking of 2D materials, device fabrication, and in device characterization by nanoscale imaging.

His Research Website.

Dr. Dhamala’s laboratory at Georgia State uses neuroimaging (fMRI, EEG, iEEG, and other MRI-based) techniques and quantitative science approaches to investigate the neural basis of cognitive functions and their impairments in neurological and psychiatric disorders. The specific areas of current interest include: perceptual decision-making, human creativity, neural oscillations, large-scale network activities, Granger causality and other novel methods for brain data analysis, and modeling of time-delayed coupled oscillators. In the last five years, Dr. Dhamala’s NeuroPhysics Lab has trained about a dozen undergraduate students from diverse backgrounds in neuroscience and neurophysics research. The undergraduate students have conducted neuroimaging experiments, analyzed the behavioral and brain data, and some successfully helped turn their research work into peer-reviewed publications. Additionally, about 25 undergraduate students with diverse academic majors from various local institutions take Dr. Dhamala’s functional neuroimaging course every fall semester and participate in neuroimaging/neuroscience research review and brain data analysis training. An REU student recruited to work in the Dhamala NeuroPhysics Laboratory at Georgia State University will investigate the long-term effects of engaging tasks, like the video game playing, on brain sensorimotor decision-making processes. The project will involve (i) the re-analysis of already collected diffusion and functional MRI data from video-gamers and non-gamers, and (ii) designing a similar new experiment with sensorimotor decision-making tasks to collect some EEG data from participants undergoing training with video games. The findings from the EEG experiment are expected to go beyond the fMRI results and resolve the timings and features of neural oscillations in the subprocesses (sensation, perception, perceptual decision and motor action) of a sensorimotor decision-making process.

His Research Website

Our research includes investigating Interactions of Radiation with Matter (IRML), especially with body fluids, and developing various types of IR detectors for a myriad of applications. Our present focus is on identifying IR spectral markers for disease induced changes within the constituents of body fluids that is relevant for the early detection of various health conditions. We have demonstrated this technique using serum samples of experimental mouse models of Ulcerative colitis (UC) and cancers and are inthe process of applying it to human serum (breast cancer and UC) samples. Aiding in early detection and diagnosis of disease with a cost-effective, simple way to enhance the compliance rate for disease screening could ultimately enhance society’s ability to combat debilitating and costly chronic diseases. Our ultimate goal is to develop a portable tool using a commercially available Fourier transform Infrared (FTIR) spectrometer with attenuated total reflectance (ATR) unit, integrated with the fully automated spectral measurements and analysis software package. Undergraduates have opportunities to work on any aspects of developing software, taking measurements, and data/statistical analysis involving the identification of spectral markers.

His Research Website

Nuclear physics research at GSU includes instrumental, experimental, and theoretical investigations. Student can work on a broad list of topics, which includes, but is not limited to
1. sPHENIX experiment (link HERE): detector simulation, data analysis
2. Electron-Ion Collider: probing the inner structure of nucleon and nuclei (both in theory and in experimental studies); particle identification detector development (simulation and detector testing)
3. Cosmic ray radiation measurement and data analysis with broad applications (space/earth weather monitoring, public health and background radiation, muon/neutron tomography, etc.)

Their Group Website