Student Research Opportunities

These are opportunities for undergraduates to do research in the Mathematics, Statistics and Physics Department at Purdue University North Central.

Dr. Purna Das

Dr. Das’ areas of research are Theoretical Solid State Physics and Chemical Physics. He is involved in theoretical investigations of the spectroscopic properties of adsorbed molecules on or near small metal particles and surfaces. Possibilities exist for motivated students to conduct research in this and other areas of physics, including laboratory improvement and experiment design, which may lead to presentations at national and regional meetings and publication in scientific journals. The primary aim is to give the interested students the opportunity to supplement their course work experience with research that supports the positive relationship between what they are learning and its application.

For further information, contact Dr. Purna Das.

Dr. Kuhn

Dr. Kuhn is involved in applied statistical analyses. Student involvement in this work is strongly encouraged. The primary aim is to give the interested students the opportunity to gain experience with research to show the relationship between what they have learned in statistics and its application to data analysis.

For further information, contact Dr. Jonathan Kuhn.

Dr. Aaron Warren

Dr. Aaron Warren conducts research in computational astrophysics.  He conducts computer simulations of neutron star collisions, black hole collisions, and gravitational wave generation.
Neutron stars are remnants that are sometimes produced by the explosive deaths of large stars, called supernova.  Neutron stars are more massive than the Sun, yet only as big as the island of Manhattan.  Sometimes binary neutron star systems may form, with two neutron stars orbiting one another and eventually coalescing.  These systems can produce ripples in the fabric of spacetime, known as gravitational waves.  Dr. Warren models these systems using a post-Newtonian smoothed particle hydrodynamic code, called StarCrash.  Using this code, students can simulate collisions between neutron stars and analyze the resulting gravitational waves.  Additionally, Dr. Warren is implementing a fully relativistic numerical code to enable the simulation of black hole collisions.

There are several facets to this work which students may selectively engage in and benefit from: computer programming, theoretical astrophysics, data analysis, and data visualization.  Interested students should have at least one semester of physics courses (preferably PHYS 152), and calculus (preferably MATH 167).  Computer programming background, especially with Matlab, FORTRAN, and C is preferred but not necessary.

Please contact Dr. Aaron Warren if you are interested or have any questions.