Summer Research Opportunity 

Applications will be opening soon for Summer 2022.

The Physics Department at LVC is happy to offer Research First, a program that provides opportunities for incoming LVC freshmen to work with college faculty/student research teams during the summer before their freshman year of college. This 40 hours per week immersion experience in scientific research provides opportunities to learn many new techniques in experimental and theoretical physics. Based on high school records and experience, we will select a limited number of incoming LVC freshmen for this program.

During your time as a Research First student, you would work alongside a faculty member as a paid research assistant. By doing so, you will complete one of your general education requirements, even before taking your first class at LVC!   

This summer may still be a bit different and while we yet cannot provide all the details of what our session this summer will look like, this immersive experience allows you to become acclimated to life at the College before you start at LVC. If we can be face-to-face this summer, during June and July, you can spend up to four full weeks working on discovery research in one of our groups, receive room and board while staying at the College, and receive a weekly stipend of $375. Each group also has plans in place for how you will engage in their projects, if we will continue to work at a distance.  

As a Research First student, you will become involved in challenging and interesting research areas, including:

• Quantum Information Theory—study the ways in which the "quantum advantage" of systems of entangled particles can perform computing and communications tasks that outperform the most powerful existing computers
• Laser Modifications of Glass—fabricate crystals in glass using a laser as a heat source and characterize them by various means (Raman spectroscopy, piezoresponse force microscopy, etc.) to gather information for practical applications and more fundamental studies.
• Computational Nuclear Physics— extract information on the elementary particles that make up objects like the proton by writing code in Python to compute high-energy particle collisions and analyzing how models fit experimental data.

If you match the profile given below, we encourage you to apply for Research First. In our selection process for this program, we will be looking for students who: 

• Will graduate in the top 20% of their class 
• Have strong high school backgrounds in science and mathematics 
• Scored 1200 or greater combined on the SAT math and verbal exams 
• Have an innate sense of curiosity and a genuine interest in discovery research 

Acceptances are made each year on a rolling basis. Questions? Contact Dr. Daniel Pitonyak, assistant professor of physics, at 717-867-6151 or pitonyak@lvc.edu. 

*While we continue to monitor the constantly evolving COVID pandemic, our plans for Summer 2022 are for face-to-face research experiences, as were held successfully during Summer 2021.  During Research First, you can spend up to four full weeks during June and July working on discovery research in one of our groups, receive room and board while staying at the College, and receive a weekly stipend.