Facilities
Research Labs
Various research groups in physics and astronomy maintain research labs on site. The newly built Collaborative Learning and Innovation Complex (CLIC) at 574 Boston Avenue houses research labs in Biophysics, High Energy Physics, Polymer Physics, and Surface Physics in the same building as our faculty and student offices. The Science and Technology Center next door houses labs for the School of Engineering with whom physics and astronomy faculty regularly collaborate and share facilities.
Teaching Labs
Hands-on laboratory experience is a key part of many of our courses for undergraduate students. The newly built Collaborative Learning and Innovation Complex (CLIC) at 574 Boston Avenue houses three dedicated labs to support introductory physics courses. The Science and Technology Center next door houses dedicated teaching labs for optics, electronics, and advanced experimental physics courses. Upper-level students engaging in research with faculty members often have opportunities to gain hands-on experience in faculty research labs.
High Performance Computing
Tufts High Performance Computing (HPC) connects a set of computers together via a high-speed network to provide a single, shared resource. The HPC research environment brings more than 4000 cores of computing power to the Tufts community. Several departments across the University are engaged in projects using HPC. Within the Department of Physics and Astronomy, these include simulation of cosmic string networks and analysis from the Large Hadron Collider, among others.
Science and Technology Center Machine Shop
The Science and Technology Center Machine Shop, housed in the Science and Technology Center at 4 Colby Street, is equipped with the knowledgeable staff and precision tools needed to design and fabricate the necessary resources for students, faculty, and staff to perform their experiments and research.
Off-Site Research Facilities
The Department of Physics and Astronomy has close ties with the broader physics community and utilizes collaborations to enable research opportunities beyond Tufts. Some of our current collaborations include CERN and Fermilab.
CERN
CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, is one of the world's largest and most respected centers for scientific research. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world's largest and most powerful particle accelerator, consisting of a 27-kilometer ring of superconducting magnets with a number of accelerating structures to boost the energy of the particles along the way. ATLAS is one of the particle detectors at the LHC. It allows scientists to investigate a wide range of physics, from the search for the Higgs boson to extra dimensions and particles that could make up dark matter. Physicists at Tufts collaborate with scientists working with the LHC and ATLAS at CERN, and some of our research staff are based at CERN in Switzerland.
Fermilab
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) advances the understanding of the fundamental nature of matter and energy by providing leadership and resources for researchers at the frontiers of high energy physics and related disciplines. As the United States' premier particle physics laboratory, scientists at Fermilab work on the world's most advanced particle accelerators and dig down to the smallest building blocks of matter. Physicists at Tufts actively collaborate with scientists working at Fermilab, and some of our research staff are based at Fermilab in Illinois.