Dev Patel/The Hoya | The Georgetown University physics department welcomed undergraduate students to explore on-campus research opportunities on Oct. 11.
Undergraduate physics students got a glimpse into the research conducted by professors, graduate students and fellow undergraduates at an open-invite research fair hosted by the Georgetown University physics department in Regents Hall on Oct. 11.
The fair was intended to expose students who want to get involved in physics research to the myriad of available opportunities, according to Emanuela Del Gado, a provost’s distinguished associate professor and the director of the Institute for Soft Matter Synthesis and Metrology.
Del Gado was one of the faculty members present at the fair, where she gave an overview of her research on the interactions of gel molecules and solids, breaking down complex ideas into simple analogies. She encouraged undergraduate students to find their own research interests and pursue them.
“This event is more conceived for undergraduate students in physics to get some ideas of what are the research groups in the classroom, what are the research possibilities for them within the department,” Del Gado said.
Jonathan Riess (CAS ’25), a math and physics major at Georgetown, attended the event and said he believes the fair is a great opportunity to keep up with others’ research and network within the physics community.
“I came here to socialize and talk to other people about their research,” Riess told The Hoya.
Bradley Fugetta, a postbaccalaureate fellow in the physics department, provided insight into what it takes to continue research after college, emphasizing the importance of interdisciplinary knowledge and communication skills. Bradley said learning how to code ultimately provided the foundation for an integral part of his research, which focuses on determining the magnetic properties of different materials through machine learning.
“I had no idea what to do, but I very quickly realized that I really, really liked coding,” Fugetta told The Hoya.
Mado Faradyan (CAS ’28) appreciated how every researcher took the time to explain their work, which left him with a deeper interest in physics.
“The fair was super interesting. All of the professors and graduate students were really willing to share all the information, resources, and the specifics of it and learn how undergraduate students can contribute and they were all passionate,” Faradyan told The Hoya.
Instead of reinforcing the perception that one needs an advanced understanding of physics to contribute to physics research, the fair showed Faradyan that there is a spot for him in Georgetown’s research community.
“It’s far less intimidating, I initially thought it would be, like how professors are here, you’re allowed to talk to them, you’re gonna pick their brain essentially. Even when I told them I was a freshman, they were still going to listen to me, and teach me about their lab,” Faradyan said.
Apart from embracing undergraduate interest in research, the fair also provided the opportunity to showcase novel scientific inquiries, which Del Gado said is critical.
“When you do science and you do research, you learn from the others, you learn through the others,” De Gado said.