Entering graduate students are encouraged to acquaint themselves with all the various research opportunities available in the department as soon as possible so that they can find a research advisor, i.e., the Major Professor. Entering students are expected to have a research advisor by the end of the first year in residence. Students should review the faculty research interests to gain an overview of current research area in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. The Department of Physics and Astronomy offers an Introduction to Research course (PHYS 8990), also known as research rotation, where the entering students who still have no research advisor can sign up for two different research groups (of the student’s choice) per semester. The purpose of the research rotation is to help entering students gain exposure to the available research possibilities in order to identify a research group for the student’s PhD/MS degree research work. Students seeking MS-NT degree do not need to take research rotation. For the currently available research rotation groups and how to sign up for PHYS 8990, see https://www.physast.uga.edu/phys8990_topics.
