Physics

Faculty

Professors of Physics

  • Vesna Mitrović​​

    Vesna Mitrović

    Department Chair, L. Herbert Ballou University Professor of Physics & Engineering
    Barus & Holley 402 / Barus & Holley 337

    Professor Mitrovic is an experimental condensed matter physicist. Her research interests include the study of quantum phenomena arising in strongly correlated electron systems at low temperatures and high magnetic fields using magnetic resonance techniques.

  • Stephon Alexander

    Stephon Alexander

    Barus Building (340 Brook Street), 204

    Professor Alexander is a theoretical physicist specializing in the interface between cosmology, particle physics, and quantum gravity (String Theory and Loop Quantum Gravity).

  • Ian Dell'Antonio

    Professor of Physics, Undergraduate Concentration Advisor
    Barus & Holley 528

    Professor Dell'Antonio's research centers on observational cosmology, the experimental measurement of the fundamental properties of the universe.

  • JiJi Fan

    JiJi Fan

    Associate Professor of Physics
    Barus & Holley 529

    Professor Fan works on particle theories, particularly beyond Standard Model theories such as Higgs phenomenology, supersymmetry, dark matter models and signatures.

  • Dmitri Feldman

    Dmitri Feldman

    Professor of Physics, Director of Graduate Studies
    Barus & Holley 329

    Professor Feldman handles all Ph.D. program and student issues, including degree requirements and milestone completion, transfer credit, etc.

    Professor Feldman is a theoretical condensed matter physicist, with emphasis on strongly correlated electronic low-dimensional systems, topological solids, and quenched disorder in hard and soft condensed matter.

  • Richard Gaitskell

    Richard Gaitskell

    Barus & Holley 516

    Professor Gaitskell leads a research team hunting for direct evidence of particle dark matter. His group is working on an experiment, LUX, that has the world's most sensitive dark matter detector located in the underground laboratories in the Sanford Lab, South Dakota. 

  • Loukas Gouskos

    Loukas Gouskos

    Barus & Holley 504

    Professor Gouskos specializes in experimental particle physics, with a primary focus on studying the properties of the Higgs boson and searching for physics beyond the standard model. Leveraging cutting-edge Deep Learning techniques, his research extends to diverse areas within particle physics.

  • Ulrich Heintz

    Ulrich Heintz

    Barus & Holley 510

    Professor Heintz is an experimental physicist studying the fundamental building blocks of matter. His interest is in testing the validity of the standard model of elementary particle physics at very high energies.

  • Antal Jevicki

    Barus Building (340 Brook Street), 115

    Professor Jevicki's research is in quantum field theory focusing on string theory, quantum gravity, black holes, non-perturbative and collective phenomena.

  • J. Michael Kosterlitz

    J. Michael Kosterlitz

    Nobel Laureate, 2016, Harrison E. Farnsworth Professor of Physics
    Barus & Holley 331

    Professor Kosterlitz is a theoretical condensed matter physicist. He studies topological transitions and topological phases of matter, random systems, electron localization, spin glasses, mechanisms of melting and freezing. He was awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize in Physics.

  • S. Koushiappas

    Savvas Koushiappas

    Barus & Holley 508

    Professor Koushiappas' theoretical work is in the interface between cosmology and particle physics. His work is predominantly in the area of dark matter physics and the search for the nature of the dark matter particle from an experimentally-motivated theoretical perspective.

  • Matthias Kuehne

    Matthias Kuehne

    Assistant Professor of Physics
    Barus & Holley 718

    Professor Kuehne is an experimental condensed matter physicist. He investigates electronics, ionics, and fluidics in low-dimensional materials and devices.

  • Greg Landsberg

    Thomas J Watson, Sr. Professor of Physics
    Barus & Holley 526

    Professor Landsberg's experimental research is in broad areas of beyond the standard model and Higgs physics, including exotic Higgs boson decays, searches for dark matter, supersymmetry, exotic particles, extra spatial dimensions, and black holes.

  • Jia (Leo) Li

    Jia (Leo) Li

    Associate Professor of Physics
    Barus & Holley 708

    Professor Li is a condensed matter experimental physicist specializing in low dimensional electronic systems. His research focuses on emergent quantum phenomena in 2D materials and its van der Waals assembly. He received his PhD in physics from Northwestern University and was a post doctoral researcher at Columbia University. He joined the department in January 2019.

  • Xinsheng Sean Ling

    Xinsheng Sean Ling

    Barus & Holley 710

    Professor Ling is an experimental condensed matter physicist.  His current research interests are in defect dynamics and glassy behavior in colloidal matter.  He also has longstanding interests in the effects of impurities and fluctuations in superconductors.

  • David Lowe

    Barus & Holley 549

    Professor Lowe's research primarily centers around applications of string theory to gravitational physics, including using string theory to understand questions in black hole physics and cosmology.

  • Brad Marston

    Brad Marston

    Barus Building (340 Brook Street), 205

    Professor Marston is a theoretical condensed matter physicist. His research focuses on the non-equilibrium statistical physics of atmospheres and oceans for the purpose of understanding climate and climate change. He also studies strongly correlated electronic systems.

  • Robert Pelcovits

    Robert Pelcovits

    Professor of Physics, Undergraduate Concentration Advisor
    Barus & Holley 333

    Professor Pelcovits is a theoretical condensed matter physicist. His research focuses on the physics of liquid crystals and topological defects, dynamics, and self-assembly in biological systems, using numerical simulations and visualizations.

  • Kemp Plumb

    Kemp Plumb

    Assistant Professor of Physics, Director of Master's Program
    Barus & Holley 704

    Professor Plumb handles all Sc.M. program and student issues, including admission, advising, degree requirements, etc.

    Professor Plumb is an experimental condensed matter physicist. He uses neutron and x-ray spectroscopies to discover new collective electronic and magnetic phenomena arising in quantum materials.

  • Jonathan Pober

    Jonathan Pober

    Associate Professor of Physics
    Barus & Holley 518

    Professor Pober is an experimental astrophysicist. His research focuses on the history of the universe through observations of neutral hydrogen on cosmic scales. He develops ultrasensitive radio telescopes for his astronomical observation.

  • Jennifer Roloff

    Jennifer Roloff

    Assistant Professor of Physics
    Barus & Holley 524

    Professor Roloff is an experimental particle physicist working on the CMS experiment. Her work focuses on precision tests of QCD, searches for physics beyond the Standard model, and novel reconstruction and calibration methods for jets.

  • M. Spradlin

    Marcus Spradlin

    Barus & Holley 531

    Professor Spradlin is a theoretical high-energy physicist, working on string theory, quantum gravity, and mathematical aspects of quantum field theory.

  • Jay Tang

    Jay Tang

    Professor of Physics & Engineering
    Barus & Holley 702

    Professor Tang is an experimental biological physicist. His research focuses on cell mechanics and mobility and addressing outstanding questions on morphology, pattern formation, force generation and mobility of bacteria and other cells.

  • Gregory Tucker

    Gregory Tucker

    Barus & Holley 520

    Professor Tucker is an experimental astrophysicist. His cosmology group studies the universe by measuring the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and by intensity mapping of neutral hydrogen. He is also interested in measuring the characteristics of exoplanets.

  • James Valles, Jr.

    James Valles, Jr.

    Barus & Holley 722

    Professor Valles is an experimental condensed matter physicist. He studies superconductivity and electron correlation effects in disordered metals and nanostructures. He also investigates effects of strong magnetic fields in cell biology and bio-polymerization.

  • A. Volovich

    Anastasia Volovich

    Professor of Physics, Undergraduate Concentration Advisor
    Barus & Holley 547

    Professor Volovich works on theoretical physics: quantum field theory, general relativity, string theory and related areas in mathematics.

  • Gang Xiao

    Gang Xiao

    Ford Foundation Professor of Physics & Engineering
    Barus & Holley 720

    Professor Xiao is an experimental condensed matter physicist, focusing on nanoscale physics and devices. He studies spin-based electronic systems, electron transport in low dimensional systems, and magnetism in artificial and self-assembled systems.

Research Faculty

Assistant Professors (Research)

Senior Research Associates

Visiting and Adjunct

Joint and Affiliated Faculty

Adjunct Faculty

Visiting Faculty

In Memoriam

  • Leon N. Cooper

    Nobel Laureate, 1972, Professor Emeritus
  • Charles Elbaum

    Research Professor

    Professor Elbaum received the Master's and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Toronto. He was a Research Fellow at the University of Toronto and at Harvard University before joining the faculty at Brown University in 1959. He then also conducted research at the University of Paris. Professor Elbaum was a frequent advisor to government and industrial research laboratories and was a Fellow of the American Physical Society. Professor Elbaum served as Chairperson of the Physics Department from 1980 to 1986. In 1991 he was appointed the Hazard Professor of Physics.

  • Herbert Fried

    Professor Emeritus

    Professor Herbert Fried joined the department in 1964, specializing in functional methods developed by Schwinger and others. According to his obituary, he authored four books and approximately one hundred and forty scientific papers. He knew personally many twentieth-century physics luminaries including Robert Oppenheimer, Freeman Dyson, and, especially, Julian Schwinger. He lectured and performed research in university departments and institutes throughout the world, principally in Paris, Marseille, and Nice, and was Director of the Workshops on Non-Perturbative Quantum Chromodynamics at the American University of Paris and La Citadelle of Villefranche-sur-mer. He continued active research throughout his life, completing his fourth book in 2014 at age 84 and publishing scientific papers well into his 90s. He retired from the department in

  • Gerald Guralnik

    Professor

    Professor Gerald S. Guralnik, a revered member of the Brown faculty for 47 years whose theoretical work helped complete the Standard Model of particle physics, died Saturday, April 26, 2014. He was 77.

    Guralnik, the Chancellor’s Professor of Physics at Brown, was a leading theorist in the field of elementary particle theory and made enduring contributions to the understanding of mass in the universe.

  • Kyungsik Kang

    Professor

    Professor Kang graduated from Seoul National University in 1959, where he received the SNU President's Award (Gold Medal). He then received the Ph.D. degree from Indiana University in 1964. A professor of physics for 41 years, Prof. Kang retired from teaching in 2005.

    Professor Kang's influence extended beyond national borders. He was a fellow of The American Physical Society, The Korea Academy of Science and Technology, the Korean Association for the Advancement of Sciences, and the Korean Physical Society. His international recognition was further solidified by his service as president of the Seoul National University Alumni Association in New England and the National Association of Korean Schools. He served on the board of directors for the R.I. Korean American Association, the Korea-U.S. Science Cooperation Center and was a council member of the Advisory Council for Democratic and Peaceful Re-Unification of Korea. Prof. Kang was awarded The Cameliia Medal (Legion of Honor) from the Government of Korea, an Official Citation from the State of RI, and the Honorary Citizenship Award (as an Exceptional Overseas Korean) from The Metropolitan Government of Seoul, Korea.

  • Meenakshi Narain

    Professor

    Professor Meenakshi Narain earned her Ph.D. in Physics from the State University of New York, Stony Brook. She had an Sc.B. degree from Gorakhpur University in India and an Sc.M. in Physics from Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India. In 2012, she was elected a Fellow of the LHC Physics Center at Fermilab, where she served as Coordinator promoting collaboration with colleagues from South America, Europe, India, and Iran. In 2000 she earned an Outstanding Junior Investigator Award from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and a National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Award

    Professor Narain joined the Brown University Department of Physics faculty in 2007 and was the first woman to chair the department beginning on July 1, 2022.