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

Limited Operations This Summer

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, UNM has reduced services. Most employees are still working remotely. See President Stokes's statement on our phased return.

The Physics and Astronomy office and building are closed. If you need to speak to anyone, leave a message at 505 277-2616. We will respond as soon as possible.

News from the Chair

2020 Convocation - a video celebration

The COVID-19 pandemic prevented us from getting together for our usual convocation ceremony this year. So we decided to make a video instead to mark the occasion.

Hear about highlights of the year for the department, find out our award winners and Departmental Honors recipients, and see our graduates recognized. Some of them recorded their own segments for the video.

The video would not have been possible without the excellent production skills of Mark McKee and Carol Silverman of UNM's Center for Digital Learning. You can also download the program for the convocation.

Read about the graduating Physics and Astronomy majors and where they plan to go next.

News from the Chair

Two UNM Physics and Astronomy faculty selected for 2020 UNM Women in STEM awards

Congratulations to Professors Tara Drake and Mousumi Roy! Both have won Women in STEM awards from Advance at UNM.

Dr. Drake's proposal was "Construction of a Fast Optical Frequency Sweeper for Managing Thermal Instabilities in Microresonator Frequency Combs".

Dr. Roy's proposal was "Destroying Continental Plates: The Role of Thermal and Chemical Disequilibrium During Melt-Rock Interaction".

Read more details in the UNM Newsroom article.

News from the Chair

Prof Henning takes on role at NRAO

Trish Henning

Prof. Trish Henning will be taking a leave of absence from UNM to take on the role of Assistant Director of Science Support and Research at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory.

She has served as the Associate Vice President for Research at UNM for more than four years. She will be stepping down from that role, and starting her leave, at the end of August.

The department wishes her luck on her latest endeavor, and is excited by the closer ties it forges between NRAO and UNM.

Upcoming Events

Colloquium:

Fri 10/23, 3:30PM in 1100, Professor Paul Steinhardt Princeton University, Physics Colloquium

Other Events:

Thu 7/16, 9:00AM in Zoom, Ana Maria Rey, Quantum Chaos 2020 Series: Entanglement dynamics and scrambling in a trapped ion quantum magnet

Events Quick Links

Physics & Astronomy and Interdisciplinary Science building

The Physics and Astronomy department is at 210 Yale Blvd NE as of November 2019

Interactive Astronomy Apps

9 Educational Apps

Written by Kevin Dilts for the Astro 101 Lab, these free interactive javascript apps illustrate common astronomy concepts. Enjoy!