Contents
- Clubs and organizations
- Seminars and colloquia
- Undergraduate research
- Scholarships, fellowships, honors, and awards
Clubs and Organizations
Undergraduate physics organizations at MIT
- Diverse Physics Society
- Society of Physics Students (SPS)
- Undergraduate Womxn in Physics (UWIP)
Graduate physics organizations at MIT
- Physics Graduate Student Council (PGSC)
- Physics Resources for Easing Friction and Stress (PhysREFS)
- Graduate Womxn in Physics (GWIP)
Other ways to get involved
- Department and institute committees
- Outreach and mentoring
- Diversity, equity, and inclusion
- Science and public policy
Seminars and colloquia
Physics seminars
- There are dozens of seminars about research per week across campus, in every field of study
- These aren’t like seminar classes – you don’t have to pre-register; you just show up to whichever talks you’re interested in, whenever you like
- Many of these have free food
- While many of the attendees are professors, postdocs, and grad students, don’t be intimidated – you are most definitely welcome to be there
- Some seminars are about highly technical research and involve physics you haven’t learned yet. This is normal! Don’t be intimidated if you don’t understand everything (or even anything) – nobody else in the room does either, even the profs!
- Usually the best ones for undergrads to attend are the so-called colloquia, which are geared towards a wide audience
- In physics: every Thursday of the school year at 4:05, almost always in 10-250
- Free food and coffee beforehand at 3:30 in the Pappalardo Room (4-349)
- You are also welcome to attend seminars, which are slightly more technical
- Astronomy and astrophysics talks
- Atomic, molecular, and optical physics seminars
- Biophysics seminars
- Condensed matter physics seminars
- Nuclear physics, particle physics, and gravity talks
- Plasma physics talks
- Quantum information talks
Undergraduate Research
During the school year
- Weekly physics newsletter sent out to department often has UROP postings
- MIT Undergraduate Research Program (UROP) – work for a professor and even get paid!
- The physics department is divided into nine different research divisions:
- Astrophysics (Kavli Institute/MKI)
- Atomic, Molecular, and Optical (AMO) Physics (Center for Ultracold Atoms/CUA)
- Biophysics (Physics of Living Systems)
- More general list of biophysics work being done across MIT can be found here
- Experimental condensed matter physics
- Experimental nuclear and particle physics (Laboratory for Nuclear Science/LNS)
- Plasma physics (Plasma Science and Fusion Center)
- Quantum information science
- Theoretical condensed matter physics
- Theoretical nuclear and particle physics (Center for Theoretical Physics/the CTP)
Summer Research
- UROP‘s on campus
- MISTI international summer programs
- Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU’s)
- Paid summer research jobs
- Many locations in the U.S.
- Applications usually due late fall semester or early spring
- Funded by National Science Foundation (NSF)
- Summer research jobs at the national labs (SULI)
- Places like Los Alamos, Fermilab, etc.
- Managed by US Department of Energy (DOE) – which, contrary to the name, actually runs many physics things
- Department of Defense summer internships (DoD)
- Some of these involve research
- Summer programs at MIT for undergraduates from other schools interested in working at MIT who may have stumbled upon our page
- You can google and find many other opportunities in the U.S. and abroad as well!
Conferences (and national organizations)
- Each lab usually attends a few conferences per year that are specific to their area of physics
- You’ll need to ask friends in your lab/your advisor where they usually present
- It’s not uncommon for undergraduates to go to conferences and present a poster about their research (and sometimes even give a talk!)
- For example, the American Physical Society (APS), holds two major conferences per year, the March Meeting and April Meeting
- There are also a number of undergraduate-specific conferences, including:
- Conferences for Undergraduate Women in Physics (CUWiP)
- Society of Physics Students PhysCon
- Society of Physics Students Zone Meetings
Scholarships, Fellowships, Honors and Awards
Undergraduate
- Scholarships and fellowships
- MIT nomination procedures for “Distinguished Fellowships” (e.g. Rhodes, Churchill, Marshall)
- Goldwater Scholarship (sophomores and juniors)
- Leroy Apker Award (seniors)
- Society of Physics Students Scholarships
- Honors and awards
- MIT Physics Department student awards (scholarship, research, service)
- First-year student awards (in many categories)
- Division of student life awards (in many categories, e.g. student life, service, excellence in academics and athletics, etc.)
Graduate
- Fellowships
- Process run through MIT
- MIT nomination procedures for “Distinguished Fellowships” (e.g. Rhodes, Churchill, Marshall)
- MIT Office of Graduate Education fellowships
- Process run independently of MIT
- Department of Energy Computational Science Graduate Fellowship (DOE-CSGF, 4 years)
- Department of Energy Stewardship Science Graduate Fellowship (DOE-SSGF, 4 years)
- Ford Foundation Fellowships (predoctoral, dissertation fellowships)
- Hertz Foundation Fellowship (5 years)
- National Defense Science and Engineering Fellowship Program (NDSEG, 3 years)
- National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (NSF-GRFP, 3 years)
- Soros Fellowship for New Americans (2 years)
- Process run through MIT
- Honors and Awards
- MIT Physics Department Awards (research, teaching)
- MIT Office of Graduate Education Awards
- APS Dissertation Awards (scroll to bottom)