University of Richmond Physics

For those of you thinking about where to apply for college, here is a note I received from a professor at University of Richmond [The links are not live so contact me if you want more information]:

Last fall I wrote to you as one physics teacher to another to tell you about several opportunities in physics at the University of Richmond. I’m writing to you again to share with you some of the highlights from the previous year, in the hopes that you will pass this information on to any of your students who may be interested in pursuing physics and finding out more about our department.

• Last year, in addition to our regular courses, offered additional elective courses in optics, electronics, and advanced quantum mechanics. Our advanced courses typically have about 12 students in each class. (Even our first-year physics courses are capped at 24 students each. None of our physics courses are taught by TAs or graduate students.)
  

• Our six tenure track professors published 34 physics articles in major research journals last year, demonstrating that our faculty are respected leaders in their fields. Moreover, nine students were coauthors on these papers, demonstrating real undergraduate involvement in cutting edge research.

• Professor Ted Bunn won a $187,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to study cosmic microwave background radiation. He and Professor Jerry Gilfoyle were also awarded $162,000 from the NSF for a new supercomputer cluster. Professor Con Beausang won three new awards from the Department of Energy ($143,000 total) for studying nuclear physics. From these and other ongoing grants, we paid salaries for 17 undergraduate students doing summer physics research in 2010.

• Ten students traveled to national and international physics conferences this year (including meetings in Hawaii, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C.) to present results of their research with their professors.

The University of Richmond is a highly selective liberal arts university with just over 3,000 students, offering small classes and opportunities for one-on-one work with professors. Our small size and tremendous resources give our students many opportunities to do real cutting-edge research as undergraduates.

It would be my pleasure to talk with you or your students personally about our program; you can contact me directly either by email or by phone. I hope that I will have the opportunity to speak with you and your students sometime soon!