Physics and Astronomy

Research reveals cause of vascular changes associated with early Alzheimer’s.

Clemson Department of Physics and Astronomy Professor, Feng Ding, and his international collaborators “have discovered a cause of blood vessel damage in the brain that plays a role in Alzheimer’s disease-related dementia.” Dr. Feng Ding A healthy brain uses neurons to process and transmit information between parts of the brain to the muscles and organs within […]

Electrolyte research by Clemson physicists could lead to cheaper high-capacity batteries.

Three members of Rao’s lab- Mihir Parekh, postdoctoral fellow, and graduate students Janak Basel and Nawraj Sapkota have discovered a way to optimize electrolytes to address the short circuiting and rapid capacity loss problems in sodium-ion batteries. These batteries are less expensive and more readily available than lithium-ion batteries.  Dr. Rao and members of his […]

Clemson astrophysicists may have found a binary supermassive black hole.

After analyzing more than 100 years of data, Clemson University astrophysicists, Pablo Penil del Campo, Marco Ajello, and Sagar Adhikari, may have found binary supermassive black holes.  In our universe, galaxies collide with other galaxies and, in the process, the supermassive black holes at the core of the galaxes will form a pair.  “Penil and his […]

Two Physics Undergraduate Students present their research at CU2MIP.

VJ Mattison and J Jones, undergraduate students in the Physics and Astronomy Department, presented their research at the CU2MIP. CU2MIP is the Conference for Undergraduate Underrepresented Minorities in Physics. J Jones (left) and VJ Mattison (right) They presented their poster titled “Advancing Blazar and Galactic Source Identification with Multiwavelength and Machine Learning”.

Physics Undergraduate, Maggie Marte, is awarded prestigious 2024 Goldwater scholarship!

Clemson University Goldwater scholars. (Maggie Marte second to the left) Our very own physics undergraduate student, Maggie Marte, is one of the 5 students at Clemson University that have been awarded the Goldwater scholarship. The 2024 Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship recognizes students who show exceptional promise of advancing research in mathematics, natural sciences and engineering. This scholarship provides […]

2024 Solar Eclipse!

Our department volunteers who made this event possible! Photo credit: Amanda Ellenburg On April 8th, 2024, the Clemson University department of Physics and Astronomy hosted an eclipse event, and it was a huge success! There was so much happening on campus and so many fun stations for both the Clemson Community and the public. There […]

Stephen Kaeppler receives the NSF CAREER Award

Stephen Kaeppler, an assistant professor of physics and astronomy, will receive a five-year National Foundation CAREER Grant of $721,601 to continue his research into observational and modeling investigations of pulsating aurora electrodynamics.  What are Auroras? They are unimaginable light shows that shower the north and south poles. They occur due to the interaction of charged particles […]

Dr. Chad Sosolik appointed chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy

Chad has been a part of the department for 20 years and has been interim department chair twice during his time at Clemson. His invaluable leadership and experience have landed him the position of department chair, effective April 1st.  “Physics and Astronomy at Clemson University is poised to expand and contribute to the overall University […]