Physics and Astronomy | The University of New Mexico

Chair: Richard Rand

An undergraduate education in physics provides a solid foundation for a lifetime of learning in a variety of disciplines, including science, engineering, math, finance, education, law, and medicine. Find out more.

Alumni testimonials: Read success stories from alumni of our department and their reflections on the quality of our programs.

Degree Programs

Undergraduate

Graduate - Physics

Graduate - Optical Science and Engineering

News from the Chair

Alexandre Mills recognized by DOE's Science Graduate Student Research Program

Alexandre Mills is among 52 students from across the nation selected by the U.S. Department of Energy for the Office of Science Graduate Student Research Program.

The SCGSR Program provides supplemental funds that will allow Mills to conduct part of his thesis research at Los Alamos National Labs. Mills specializes in Particle Physics, specifically working on projects related to the direct search for dark matter. He grew up in Los Alamos and getting this grant to work at LANL "feels a lot like going home."

Congratulations Alexandre and thesis advisor Dinesh Loomba! Read more details in the UNM Newsroom article.

Featured Event

American Physical Society 2020 Four Corners Virtual Annual Meeting
Friday and Saturday, October 23-24, 2020

The 2020 Annual Meeting of the Four Corners section of the American Physical Society (APS) will be held October 23-24, 2020. This will be a virtual meeting, hosted by Bravura Technologies.

News from the Chair

Please welcome our new faculty and staff for Fall 2020

Tonmoy Chakraborty (tchakraborty@unm.edu) is our new faculty member in biophotonics. He will be teaching PHYS 1310 remotely this semester. Find him in his lab at 2413, his office, room 2244, or his website, chakra.unm.edu.

Diana Dragomir joined the Department of Physics and Astronomy as a Research Assistant Professor in August, 2019, and will start as an Assistant Professor this fall. See her website.

Jessica Dowell starts as a Lecturer (Mickey Odom's old position) this fall. She has already been working very hard this spring and summer to create online versions of most of our intro labs.

Youngwoo Yi (yyi@unm.edu) is our new Advanced Lab Coordinator. He has been performing similar duties at CU Boulder and brings with him a wealth of experience. Youngwoo earned his PhD at the Colorado School of Mines and has carried out research on the optical properties of surfaces. He will be in PAÍS 1406.