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Helpful tips and guidelines for writing the theses, examples of undergraduate theses, presentation tips and rubrics...

currentundergraduateresearchprojects.pdf  (Current available departmental summer/thesis research projects)

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template_and_guidelines_for_writing_your_physics_thesis.docx

mendoza-k_seniorthesis_s2015.pdf

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Spring 2023, winter 2023, spring 2022, winter 2022, older thesis examples.

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Digital Commons @ USF > College of Arts and Sciences > Physics > Theses and Dissertations

Physics Theses and Dissertations

Theses/dissertations from 2024 2024.

Emergent Magnetism and Hyperthermia in Phase- and Size-Tunable Iron Oxide Nanostructures , K Mudiyanselage Tharindu Supun Bandara Attanayake

Exploring Spin Dynamics Using Time-Resolved Magneto-Optic Kerr Effect Spectroscopy , Arup Barua

Development and Evaluation of Novel Applications for the Ethos CBCT-Guided Online Adaptive Radiotherapy System , Nour Nasser

An Investigation of Quaternary Metal Chalcogenide Semiconductors Possessing Intrinsically Low Thermal Conductivity , Oluwagbemiga P. Ojo

Unveiling Ferroelectric and Multifunctional Insights in Hybrid Formate Perovskites , Abduljelili Popoola

Interfacial Magnetism and Anisotropy in Dirac and Weyl Semimetals , Noah Schulz

Theses/Dissertations from 2023 2023

Influence of Thickness and Capping Materials on the Static and Dynamic Properties of Ferrimagnetic Thin Films , Noha Alzahrani

Evaluation of a Prototype Deep Learning-based Autosegmentation Algorithm on a High Quality Database of Head and Neck Cancer Radiotherapy Patients , Jihye Koo

Void Formation in Model Liquids, Polymer Glasses, and Granular Materials , Kai Nan

Theses/Dissertations from 2022 2022

Coarse-grained Modeling Studies of Entangled Semiflexible Polymers: Melts, Glasses, and Granular Media , Joseph Fox D. Dietz

Nano-optical imaging of 2D materials in the quantum regime , Hana Nazari Hrim

Magnetism in Doped and Hybrid Two – Dimensional Transition Metal Dichalcogenides , Nalaka Kapuruge

First-principles-based Modeling of Energy Converting Properties of Conventional and Emerging Ferroelectrics , Maggie Kingsland

Ultrafast Magneto-optic Study of Exchange Interactions in Magnetic Materials , Hengzhou Liu

Exploring Magneto-Excitons in Bulk and Mono-Layer Semiconductors Using Non-Linear Spectroscopy Techniques , Varun Mapara

2D Lateral Heterostructures for Optoelectronic Devices , Florence Ann Emila Nugera

Light-Controlled Magnetism and Magnetic Sensing in Two-Dimensional Vanadium Dichalcogenides and Related Semiconductors , Valery Ortiz Jimenez

Magnetic and Structural Effects in Interfacial Magnetism: Molecular Magnets and Ferrimagnetic Alloys , Jenae E. Shoup

Theses/Dissertations from 2021 2021

MBE Growth and Modifications of Early Transition Metal Tellurides , Paula Mariel Coelho

Spin Coupling in Magnetic Core - Shell Nanoparticles , Corisa Kons

Third-Order Frequency-Resolved Photon Correlations from a Single Quantum Dot's Resonance Fluorescence , Yamil A. Nieves González

Texturing in Bi 2 Te 3 Alloy Thermoelectric Materials: An Applied Physics Investigation , Oluwagbemiga P. Ojo

Probing the ground state magnetism in materials with competing magnetic interactions , Richa Pokharel Madhogaria

Crystal Structure Prediction of Materials at Extreme Conditions , Ashley S. Williams

Carbon and Other Low-Z materials Under Extreme Conditions , Jonathan T. Willman

Theses/Dissertations from 2020 2020

Laser-Induced Modifications in Two-Dimensional Materials , Tariq Afaneh

The impacts of membrane modulators on membrane material properties at microscopic and nanoscopic levels , Chinta Mani Aryal

Origins of Amyloid Oligomers and Novel Approaches for their Detection , Jeremy Barton

Van der Waals Epitaxy of Ultrathin Early Transition Metal (Ti & V) (di)Selenides: Charge and Magnetic Order in the Ultrathin Limit , Manuel Bonilla Lopez

Spontaneous Raman Scattering Enhancement with Microcavities and Multipass Resonators for Trace Gas Detection , Juan Sebastian Gomez Velez

Atomistic Simulations of Novel Materials at Ambient and High Pressures , Joseph M. Gonzalez

Controlling Properties of Light: Metamaterials Design and Methodology , Darrick Hay

Van Hiele Problem Solving Logic Levels applied to Force Concept Inventory Problems using the Resources Framework , Charles Mason Hemphill

Investigation into Reduced Thermal Conductivity for Half-Heusler Alloys and Identification of Novel Multinary Chalcogenides Possessing Intrinsically Low Thermal Conductivity , Dean Hobbis

A Novel Magnetic Respiratory Sensor for Human Healthcare , Kee Young Hwang

Study of the therapeutic effects of synchronization-modulation of the Na/K pump on muscle fatigue , Jason E. Mast

Growth and Characterization of Spatially Ordered Nanostructures of Functional Materials , Domingo J. Mateo Feliciano

Data-driven Modeling of the Causes and Effects of Interneuronal Dysfunction in Alzheimer’s Disease and Dravet Syndrome , Carlos Perez

Thermoelectric transport control using single phase materials and metamaterial composites , Wencong Shi

Theses/Dissertations from 2019 2019

Development and Validation of Advanced Techniques for Treatment Planning and Verification in Megavoltage Radiotherapy , Saeed Ahmed

Phase Evolution and Dynamic Behavior in Materials with Noncollinear Spin Textures , Eleanor M. Clements

Modulations of Lipid Membranes Caused by Antimicrobial Agents and Helix 0 of Endophilin , Nawal Kishore Khadka

Water and Salt at the Lipid-Solvent Interface , James M. Kruczek

The modified Synchronization Modulation technique revealed mechanisms of Na,K-ATPase , Pengfei Liang

First-Principles Simulations of Materials under Extreme Conditions , Kien Nguyen Cong

Amyloid Protein Aggregation and Associated Toxicity , Chamani A. Niyangoda

Novel Macroscopic and Microscopic Concepts in Thermoelectricity , Troy Stedman

Study of Transition Metal Dichalcogenides Via Linear and Non-Linear Spectroscopy , Christopher E. Stevens

Development of a Voxel-Based Monte Carlo Radiation Dosimetry Methodology for a Targeted Alpha Particle Therapy , Christopher John Tichacek

Millimeter-wavelength characterization of the CO emission of comets 174P/Echeclus, 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann, and C/2016 R2 (PanSTARRS) , Kacper Wierzchos

Measuring and Utilizing High-Dimensional Information of Optical Fields , Ziyi Zhu

Theses/Dissertations from 2018 2018

Surface and Interface Effects of Magnetoimpedance Materials at High Frequency , Tatiana M. Eggers

A Fundamental Investigation into Low Thermal Conductivity p -Type Chalcogenides and Skutterudites with Potential Thermoelectric Applications , Dean Hobbis

Spin Seebeck effect and related phenomena in functional magnetic oxides , Vijaysankar Kalappattil

Towards Fundamental Understanding of Thermoelectric Properties in Novel Materials Using First Principles Simulations , Artem R. Khabibullin

Coarse-grained Modeling Studies of Polymeric and Granular Systems , Hong Trung Nguyen

Characterization of Computed Tomography Radiomic Features using Texture Phantoms , Muhammad Shafiq ul Hassan

Computational Discovery of Energetic Polynitrogen Compounds at High Pressure , Brad A. Steele

Novel Magneto-LC resonance Sensors for Industrial and Bioengineering Applications , Ongard Thiabgoh

Analyzing the effects of Ca 2+ dynamics on mitochondrial function in health and disease , Patrick Toglia

Theses/Dissertations from 2017 2017

18F-FDG PET/CTCT-based Radiomics for the Prediction of Radiochemotherapy Treatment Outcomes of Cervical Cancer , Badereldeen Abdulmajeed Altazi

Interference of Light in Multilayer Metasurfaces: Perfect Absorber and Antireflection Coating , Khagendra Prasad Bhattarai

Photopolymerization Synthesis of Magnetic Nanoparticle Embedded Nanogels for Targeted Biotherapeutic Delivery , Daniel Jonwal Denmark

Application of Metamaterials to RF Energy Harvesting and Infrared Photodetection , Clayton M. Fowler

Complex Electric-Field Induced Phenomena in Ferroelectric/Antiferroelectric Nanowires , Ryan Christopher Herchig

Organometal Halide Perovskite Solar Absorbers and Ferroelectric Nanocomposites for Harvesting Solar Energy , Chaminda Lakmal Hettiarachchi

Growth, characterization, and function of ferroelectric, ferromagnetic thin films and their heterostructures , Mahesh Hordagoda

Surfaces and Epitaxial Films of Corundum-Structured Mixed Metal Oxides. , Alan Richard Kramer

Two Dimensional Layered Materials and Heterostructures, a Surface Science Investigation and Characterization , Yujing Ma

Thermodynamic and Kinetic Aspects of Hen Egg White Lysozyme Amyloid Assembly , Tatiana Miti

Coherent Response of Two Dimensional Electron Gas probed by Two Dimensional Fourier Transform Spectroscopy , Jagannath Paul

Towards Violation of Classical Inequalities using Quantum Dot Resonance Fluorescence , Manoj Peiris

Manipulating Electromagnetic waves with enhanced functionalities using Nonlinear and Chiral Metamaterials , Sinhara Rishi Malinda Silva

Theses/Dissertations from 2016 2016

Reduced Dimensionality Effects in Gd-based Magnetocaloric Materials , Hillary Faith Belliveau

Preparation and Characterization of Van der Waals Heterostructures , Horacio Coy Diaz

Biophysical Characterization and Theoretical Analysis of Molecular Mechanisms Underlying Cell Interactions with Poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) Hydrogels , Michael C. Cross

Exciton Dynamics and Many Body Interactions in Layered Semiconducting Materials Revealed with Non-linear Coherent Spectroscopy , Prasenjit Dey

The Role of Partial Surface Charge Compensation in the Properties of Ferroelectric and Antiferroelectric Thin Films , Elena Glazkova

Surface Properties of Titanium dioxide and its Structural Modifications by Reactions with Transition Metals , Sandamali Halpegamage

Inquiry of Lipid Membranes Interacting with Functional Peptides and Polyphenol Drug Molecules , Chian Sing Ho

Resonant Light Scattering from Semiconductor Quantum Dots , Kumarasiri Konthasinghe

Structure-Interaction Effects In Novel Nanostructured Materials , Nam B. Le

Polymer Characteristics of Polyelectrolyte Polypeptides , Jorge Monreal

Biophysical Investigation of Amyloid Formation and Their Prion-like Self-replication , Mentor Mulaj

Novel Magnetic Nanostructures for Enhanced Magnetic Hyperthermia Cancer Therapy , Zohreh Nemati Porshokouh

Increasing 18F-FDG PET/CT Capabilities in Radiotherapy for Lung and Esophageal Cancer via Image Feature Analysis , Jasmine Alexandria Oliver

Microcavity Enhanced Raman Scattering , Benjamin James Petrak

Confinement Effects and Magnetic Interactions in Magnetic Nanostructures , Kristen Lee Stojak Repa

Theses/Dissertations from 2015 2015

Effects of disorder and low dimensionality on frozen dynamics in Ca3Co2-xMnxO6 , Brian Wesley Casas

Surface Science Studies of Graphene Interfaces , Arjun Dahal

Enhanced Magnetoimpedance and Microwave Absorption Responses of Soft Ferromagnetic Materials for Biodetection and Energy Sensing , Jagannath Devkota

Synthesis, Characterization and Ferroelectric Properties of LN-Type ZnSnO 3 Nanostructures , Corisa Kons

Low Dimensionality Effects in Complex Magnetic Oxides , Paula J. Lampen Kelley

Coherent Digital Holographic Adaptive Optics , Changgeng Liu

In Vacuo Fabrication and Electronic Structure Characterization of Atomic Layer Deposition Thin Films , Michael Schaefer

The Evaluation and Study of Modern Radiation Dosimetry Methods as Applied to Advanced Radiation Therapy Treatments Using Intensity Modulated Megavoltage Photon Beams , Cassandra Stambaugh

Thermal Fluctuations Tunneling in Doped Conjugated Polymers , Troy C. Stedman

Nanomechanical and Nanotribological Characterization of Sub-Micron Polymeric Spheres , Himanshu Kumar Verma

Investigation of Low Thermal Conductivity Materials with Potential for Thermoelectric Applications , Kaya Wei

Theses/Dissertations from 2014 2014

Analysis of Critical Behavior in Magnetic Materials , Dustin David Belyea

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choosingphysics [at] stanford.edu (Pre-Major Advising)

Senior Thesis and Honors

All Physics majors who pursue research with a faculty member have the opportunity to complete a Senior Thesis. Completing a Senior Thesis is not required for a Bachelor’s degree in Physics but is required for graduation with Honors.

On this page, we provide guidelines for applying to graduate with Honors, applying to complete a Senior Thesis, choosing a thesis research topic, writing the Senior Thesis, and preparing the thesis presentation.

Honors Requirements

Physics majors are granted a Bachelor of Science in Physics with Honors if they satisfy these two requirements beyond the general Physics major requirements.

• The student completes a Senior Thesis by meeting the deadlines and requirements described in the Senior Thesis guidelines section below. 
• The student completes course work with an overall GPA of 3.30 or higher, and a GPA of 3.50 or higher in courses required for the Physics major.

The student applies for the Honors Program by completing the Honors Program Application by mid-May.  Eligibility is confirmed by the Director of Undergraduate Studies.

Senior Thesis Guidelines

• Students must submit a Senior Thesis Application once they identify a research project in consultation with a faculty member with whom they are conducting theoretical, computational, or experimental physics research. The application form is attached to this webpage and is also available from the Student Services Officer. The application must be submitted by 3:00 pm PT on Thursday prior to the Thanksgiving break of the academic year in which the student plans to graduate. 
• Credit for the project is assigned by the research advisor within the framework of PHYSICS 205 , Senior Thesis Research. A minimum of 3 units of PHYSICS 205 must be completed for a letter grade during the student’s Senior year. Work completed in the Senior Thesis program may not be used as a substitute for regular required courses for the Physics major.
• A written thesis and presentation of the work at its completion are required for the Senior Thesis. The Senior Thesis candidate is required to present the project at the department's Senior Thesis Presentation Program in mid to late May. The expectation is that the student's advisor, thesis reader, and all other Senior Thesis candidates attend. Students may invite their family and friends as guests. 

Timeline for Completing a Senior Thesis & Applying for Honors in Physics

• First week of October: Students receive information about Senior Thesis Application via email (sent from the Student Services Officer).
• Mid-November, before Thanksgiving break: Senior Thesis Application is due by  3:00 pm PT on Thursday before Thanksgiving break. No late submissions will be accepted. Students will be notified if their application is approved after Thanksgiving break.
• First week of April: Students sign up for a date/time to present their Senior Thesis; presentations are scheduled in May. At this point, you should have your thesis title and abstract ready for submission.
• Students submit the final version of their Senior Thesis a week prior to the scheduled presentations. 
• Students present their Senior Thesis in front of their advisor, thesis reader, other presenters, and guests. 
• Students who successfully complete and present their Senior Thesis AND meet the GPA requirements must complete the Honors Program Application by mid-May to graduate with Honors. 

Choosing a thesis topic and writing the thesis

No later than the autumn quarter of your senior year, but preferably earlier, during a summer research position.

No later than winter quarter of your senior year.

When you have completed your senior thesis, you should be an expert on the particular area of research discussed in your thesis. Some projects are independent of the advisor’s research; some projects are a well-defined sub-area within the advisor’s broader research program.

Your thesis advisor, as well as graduate students and/or postdocs with whom you have worked closely, can provide advice. The Hume Center for Writing and Speaking is also a useful resource:  http://undergrad.stanford.edu/tutoring-support/hume-center

Students normally find a Senior Thesis topic and advisor through the Summer Research Program. Other sources are courses such as Physics 59 (Frontiers in Physics Research), faculty web pages and resources on the Undergraduate Research and Independent Projects web page: https://undergrad.stanford.edu/opportunities/research

Broad “review articles” in the field and references therein provide valuable background information. Your advisor and group members should also be able to point you to relevant papers.

You are required to enroll in Physics 205 (Senior Thesis Research) under your advisors’ section during your senior year for a minimum of 3 units. The course must be taken for letter grade. 1 unit = 3 hours of research per week.

No, you cannot earn course credit and get paid for the same work.

An advisor may occasionally have funds to support you during the academic year, but you cannot earn course credit for the same work.

The following links contain information on how to apply for funding during the academic year and during the summer term – Student Grants:  https://undergrad.stanford.edu/opportunities/research/get-funded Physics Summer Research Program:  https://physics.stanford.edu/academics/undergraduate-students/summer-research

The length of the thesis varies, depending on the type of thesis. A more theoretical thesis, perhaps fairly dense with equations, may be shorter than an experimental thesis containing a number of figures showing the experimental setup, plots of the data, fits to the data, etc. Most theses are between 20 and 60 pages long.

Electronic versions of Physics Senior Theses written in 2010 or later are available online here: http://searchworks.stanford.edu/catalog?f[collection][]=ds247vz0452

The thesis should contain the following elements:

• A title page listing the title, the student author, the primary and secondary readers, and the date.
• An abstract, which could be on the title page or inside the document.
• An acknowledgment at the beginning or after the abstract.
• Table of contents.
• A body, divided into sections and subsections.
• A bibliography of references at the end. Include page numbers.

Each table should have a caption above the table and each figure should have a caption below the figure. Include a reference to each table and figure in the text.  If you have a large number of detailed plots, or a very long detailed derivation, consider putting it in an Appendix so that the text flows better.

One-and-a-half spacing is best. It makes it easier to read and easier for your readers to mark up.

Yes, but it must be physics related and you must have a faculty member in Physics as the second reader.

Yes, a literature review should be included.

Your target audience should be students in your major. Other Physics majors should be able to follow the thesis and understand what you did – although they might not follow all the details.

Yes, as long as you include a citation to the publication.

Several Stanford professors have done research based on the results of my research. May I include some of their results because they greatly enrich my overall project or does the thesis have to be 100% on data I took myself? It is definitely OK to include other data as long as you provide credit and appropriate citations.

Preparing the thesis presentation

It is typical to use slides prepared with the presentation software of your choice.

Students should bring their own laptop and any necessary adapters.

•  PRACTICE!!
• The   presentation s   are   15 minutes and 5 minutes for questions . The next presenter will be asked to set up at the 20-minute mark.
• Practice presenting from your laptop in the same room well before the actual presentation. In this way, you can avoid embarrassing delays due to technical problems or missing connectors, etc. Any technical delays will only reduce your speaking time.
• Make sure you start your presentation with an  accessible  overview. The audience will contain mainly non-experts in the field you are going to discuss. This is often the most difficult aspect of any presentation since you must bring along the non-experts while explaining later technical results and their importance without losing the audience.
• PRACTICE!! (A good strategy is to do timed 15-minute practice sessions in front of your classmates, especially those who will also be presenting a thesis. Encourage your audience to give you feedback and to ask questions afterward about anything that was not clear.)

Senior Thesis

Senior Theses must be submitted and approved by your advisor by the  last day of classes for the semester/term in which you need a grade for the thesis. Otherwise you can get a T grade until you complete it.

As a BS Physics or BS Physics & Astronomy major (not applied physics, though applied majors can do a thesis and take 498R or a capstone and take 492R), you are required to complete a senior thesis research project as part of your educational experience. You should start thinking about this experience early in your education. Here we've compiled answers to many of the questions that students ask about the senior thesis.

Why do I have to do a senior thesis?

Your work on a senior thesis is perhaps the closest thing to a "real-world" experience that you will have in college. Nobody solves textbook problems or takes exams for a living. Soon, others will judge you primarily by your creativity, initiative, and ability to obtain and communicate research results; your college grades will be superfluous. We designed the senior thesis requirement to prepare you for this new reality.

In your thesis, you will craft and define a problem (often with significant help from your advisor) which inevitably will be murky in the beginning. There will be no "answer at the back of the book" to lean on. You will have to find and explain the context for that problem, including a clear summary of the related works of others. You must justify why your research problem is worth pursuing. The research for a senior thesis will require initiative, imagination, and hard work to complete. Once completed, you will have the opportunity to develop a clear written description of your work and a coherent and concise argument for its conclusions.

You should know that the professors who made the senior thesis requirement added a significant burden to themselves by agreeing to mentor your research and edit your thesis. We are willing to do it because research and writing are essential to a successful career (even if you don't end up in physics), and they can only be mastered with practice.

How do I get started?

Read the first couple of chapters in these instructions for writing a senior thesis .  The document is formatted in the style of a senior thesis, and gives lots of good pointers for getting started on undergraduate research.

When should I start?

Get started right away. The most important first step is to get involved with a research group. Browse through the research opportunities listed on the research page and find something that interests you. Then contact the faculty member in charge of this research to see if they have space for you to join their group. Often faculty members have project ideas already thought of for you to work on. Usually there is a learning curve before you can do useful research, so you shouldn't expect to immediately start your senior thesis project. Join a group early so you can learn the ropes early in your program and have sufficient time and skills to complete a project that you find interesting.

What about an Honors thesis?

If you are working through the Honors Program, be aware that you can use the same thesis to satisfy the senior thesis requirement and the Honors thesis requirement. The research and writing process will be the same as for a regular senior thesis, but the Honors Program has a few additional requirements. Work with the Honors office to make sure you fulfill the honors requirements . You use the same formatting guidelines as the senior thesis for the Honors thesis, but you'll need to add a slightly different cover page. To fulfill the senior thesis requirement upload the thesis into the department online system. The only consideration here is that to fulfill the department requirement the honors thesis must have sufficient physics and astronomy material as determined by your advisor.

What is Phscs 498R?

You are required to take two credit hours of Phscs 498R to satisfy the senior thesis requirement. This course is the university's way of bookkeeping to make sure you finish your thesis before you graduate. There are no formal lectures or course materials for Phscs 498R (no class to attend), and you can register for the course any time during your research.  We recommend that you register for it during a semester when you are already paying full-time tuition so it won't cost you any extra money.  However, it can also be a convenient way to stay full-time without adding other classes.

To sign up for Phscs 498R please fill out this online form . For the senior thesis you may do research outside the department, but you must have a faculty member within the Department of Physics and Astronomy who will certify that there is a sufficient physics and/or astronomy content in the thesis to fulfill this requirement. You may sign-up for between 0.5-2 hours of Phscs 498R in a given semester, but you need to eventually take 2 total credits. If you need/want more credits than this for research, you can talk to your advisor about taking credits of 497R. Your 498R grade it based on your written document. You can earn a grade for research through 497R, though this is optional.

Your grade for Phscs 498R will be a "T" (which has no effect on your GPA) until you have submitted your final thesis. When you submit your final thesis a senior thesis coordinator will consult with your advisor and change the "T" to a normal letter grade reflecting your performance in the research and writing process. This is true for both Honors and Senior Theses.

How much work is involved?

This depends a lot on you, your advisor, and the project you choose. It's unrealistic to expect to complete a quality thesis in as little time as the minimum two credit hours of the 498R Senior Thesis requirement suggests. The research and writing typically take a few hundred hours (and students are often given financial support…see the student employment section). Talk in depth with your advisor to make sure you both have realistic expectations about the project.

Why so much focus on writing? This isn't English!

Good writing is foremost an exercise in clarity of thought. Everyone in physics at one time or another has experienced the frustration of being on the receiving end of a poor presentation, the natural result of insufficient attention paid to clear thought. No matter how well you understand physics and no matter how imaginative your research, if you cannot communicate your ideas clearly, they benefit no one. Good writing skills will be crucial in any career you choose. If you do not acquire them now, you will have to develop them later, most likely in an ad hoc fashion under embarrassing and unpleasant circumstances.

What is Physics 416?

Your senior thesis will probably be the most challenging writing that you do as an undergraduate. A thesis is much more involved than a final paper that you may write for other classes. The physics department has developed Physics 416 specifically to help you work through the thesis-writing process. We offer the course each Winter semester, and you need to have the research phase of your senior thesis essentially finished before you can enroll in the course. This class also fulfills the advanced writing requirement in GE, and will teach you many skills which will be directly useful in a physics career which are not covered in the general advanced writing classes.

Sometimes a student's research timetable doesn't lead to a finished result in time to allow participation in Physics 416. In these cases you can take the general advanced technical writing course through English (which is offered more frequently than Physics 416), and they will usually let you write a draft of your thesis as the final paper for the course. The following guide gives a good summary of how to write a senior thesis, which you should refer to whether taking Physics 416 or the general technical writing class:

• Instructions for writing a senior thesis

What format should I use for the written document?

The submitted PDF of your thesis will need to conform to the formatting standards illustrated by these sample documents:

• Minimal sample showing the format of a senior thesis
• Minimal sample showing the format of an honors thesis
• Thesis archive with many examples of theses

These example documents were created using the LaTeX typesetting system, and some of the instructions in the sample text are specific to that system. You may write the thesis using any software you choose, as long as you produce a correctly formatted PDF document for submission. LaTex may not be right for your thesis, but we recommend you at least take a look at the LaTex resources page to see what it is. We recommend that you discuss your choice of writing software with your advisor.

What is the deadline for submitting my thesis?

The deadline to submit your senior thesis to the department website (through the Submit a Thesis/Capstone link) and have it approved by your advisor is the last day of classes of the semester/term you need the grade in (for graduation) . You and your advisor need to be working on creating the final draft of your thesis before the last day of classes so that you can submit it and have your advisor approve it before the last day of classes. This deadline gives the coordinator enough time to review your document, possibly require you to make changes, and submit a grade before the grade submission deadline. If your senior thesis is doubling as an Honors thesis, please check with the Honors program as they have an earlier deadline.

How do I turn in my thesis?

• Complete research and be writing your thesis. The writing and revision process typically takes 40+ hours, so don't wait until the day before the final draft is due to start writing. The thesis should have gone through many revisions with your advisor before the first submission deadline.
• Create a PDF of your thesis that is less than 40 MB . A huge file size for a PDF usually comes from using raster images with very high resolution. You should use vector graphics or limit the resolution of your raster graphics to 600 dots per inch. If you don't want to limit your graphics size during the creation process, the student lab computers have Acrobat professional, which allows you to compress your PDF graphics appropriately via File -> Save As Other -> Optimized PDF...
• Before the first deadline listed above make all changes suggested by your advisor. Then upload your the latest version of the thesis using the electronic submission system .
• Work with your advisor to get them to electronically approve the thesis. Just having your thesis uploaded by the deadline is not enough. If the advisor doesn't grant their approval by the deadline, the thesis may not be considered for that semester's graduation.
• After your advisor approves your thesis, the department senior thesis coordinator will review it. You will likely receive a few corrections at this point. Make the corrections and upload the new PDF file into the electronic submission system . All changes requested by the research coordinator must be completed and approved before grades are due for that semester/term. Once again, if the approval is not completed by the deadline the thesis will not be processed for that semester's graduation.

Do I Need to Give an Oral Presentation?

A short oral presentation of your completed research project is strongly encouraged, but not required (a presentation is required for Honors theses).  For students graduating in April this requirement is most naturally satisfied by giving a 12-minute talk at the annual College Student Research Conference, usually held in March. Students can also arrange other times/locations with their faculty advisors.

Thesis Coordinators

The "Senior Thesis Coordinator" and the "Honors Coordinator" may be found on Advising .

How Will My Thesis be Graded?

You will initially receive a temporary T grade if your senior thesis is not completed during the term in which you registered for credit. Note that T grades do not count towards graduation (or to your GPA)! A letter grade, determined by the Thesis Coordinator in consultation with your project advisor/mentor, will only be assigned after the senior thesis is submitted in the Thesis/Capstone system and both the advisor and coordinator have reviewed it. A letter grade is required for graduation. The grading scale used to evaluate your senior thesis is as follows:

A-, A The student has completed a quality thesis.  The advisor is primarily responsible for deciding whether the thesis should receive this grade, although the Undergraduate Research Coordinator must agree. The thesis reflects on the advisor's reputation. It should be something that the advisor would be proud to show to an external reviewer.

B-, B, B+ The student has produced a significant written report on his or her research that falls short of a quality thesis. (A written report does not preclude the possibility of a lower grade if the quality of the research and/or writing is poor.) This grade range indicates a completed thesis that follows appropriate formatting guidelines, but is not a thesis the advisor feels should be considered a quality thesis.

C-, C, C+  The student has documented his or her research but failed to produce a thesis. This range of grade is justified for students who, for example, participate in the Spring Research Conference and who produce meaningful (and reasonably extensive) technical notes to be passed on to other students who continue the work.

D-, D, D+ The student has been involved in meaningful research, appropriate for the number of credit hours (i.e. 15 x 6 hrs = 90 hrs for 2 credits). However, the student has failed to produce a written report.

Your advisor and thesis coordinator will be using the following criteria in determining your grade.

• Conceptual understanding and explanations of the physics in the research topic is at the senior level of coursework
• Understanding and correct use of mathematical descriptions of the physics in the research topic is at the senior level of coursework.
• Good design of experimental, computational and/or theoretical approach
• Experimental, computational and/or theoretical skills appropriate for the research are demonstrated.
• Work was continued until a meaningful result was achieved
• Statistical significance of results is treated correctly.
• Significance of project is not exaggerated, and is demonstrated by its relation to previous work.
• Writing: clear and concise
• Writing: correct grammar, spelling
• Writing: appropriate style and tone
• Writing: credit and references given for work of others
• Graphics are clear and appropriate

Can I Get a Bound Copy of My Thesis?

You can purchase a bound printed copy of your thesis if you want one for your personal collection, but this is not required. If you want a bound copy of the thesis, go to  printandmail.byu.edu/gradWorks/ to submit a .pdf of your thesis and order it for printing.  That web site will give you an estimate of the cost before you order.

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Undergraduate Theses, Department of Physics

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Current results range from 2010 to 2024

• Stanford Digital Repository 96
• Hayden, Patrick 8
• Kachru, Shamit 8
• Graham, Peter 6
• Hartnoll, Sean 6
• Safavi-Naeini, Amir 6
• Hogan, Jason 5
• Hollberg, Leo 5
• Macintosh, Bruce 5
• Schleier-Smith, Monika 5
• Burchat, Patricia 4
• Church, Sarah 4
• Khemani, Vedika 4
• Silverstein, Eva 4
• Stanford, Douglas 4
• Wechsler, Risa 4
• Abel, Tom 3
• Blandford, Roger 3
• Cabrera, Blas 3
• Fox, John 3
• Goldhaber-Gordon, David 3
• attractor mechanism 3
• Accretion Disks 2
• Dark Matter 2
• Machine learning 2
• Quantum computing 2
• Quantum error correction 2
• cosmology 2
• dark matter 2
• quantum simulation 2
• 1D superconductor 1
• AGN - quasi-periodic oscillations 1
• Thesis/Dissertation 95

Organization (as author)

• Stanford University, Department of Physics 69
• Department of Physics 26
• Stanford University 26

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96 catalog results, online 1. construction of time-and-angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy on correlated materials [2010].

• Yang, Shuolong (Author)

Online 2. Electronic Transport in Graphene Nanoribbons and Topological Insulators [2010]

• Gallagher, Patrick (Author)

Online 3. Growth and Characterization of Rubidium Copper Sulfide [2010]

• Shapiro, Maxwell C. (Author)

Online 4. Imaging Redshift Estimates for BL Lacertae Objects [2010]

• Meisner, Aaron (Author)

Online 5. Plasmonic metallic nanoparticles: synthesis, experiment, and theory [2010]

• Brown, Ana (Author)

Online 6. Single-Molecule AFM Cantilever for THz Force Detection [2010]

• Mahmood, Fahad (Author)

Online 7. Thermodynamic Optimization of Retinal Photocoagulation Surgery: Computational Model with Experimental Verification [2010]

• Brown, Jefferson (Author)

Online 8. Chaos and Noise in Dynamical Systems with Applications to Measurement [2011]

• He, Temple (Author)
• January 1, 2011

Online 9. Determining the Folded and Unfolded Structure of the HIV TAR RNA Using Small-Angle X-ray Scattering [2011]

• Tang, Maxine Chi-Leung (Author)

Online 10. Identifying and Characterizing Topological Insulators Using Scanning Potentiometry [2011]

• Marantan, Andrew (Author)

Online 11. Inferring the Halo Mass Function from Galaxy Clusters: Accuracy Limits Due to Redshift-Space Distortions [2011]

• Lim, Yu Xian (Author)

Online 12. Internal Beam Annihilation Therapy: A Novel Approach to Radiation Therapy [2011]

• Liu, Michael (Author)

Online 13. Effects of Supersonic Relative Velocity Between Baryons and Dark Matter in the Early Universe [2012]

• Peairs, Gregory (Author)

Online 14. Heating and acceleration of intracluster medium protons by turbulence [2012]

• Kang, Byungwoo (Author)

Online 15. Computational and Experimental Study of Electromagnetic Wave Heating in Magnetized Plasmas [2013]

• Kates-Harbeck, Julian (Author)
• May 23, 2013

Online 16. Cosmological Evolution of Gamma-Ray Bursts [2013]

• Kitanidis, Ellie (Author)
• June 15, 2013

Online 17. Scanning SQUID microscopy of magnetic cells [2013]

• Dwyer, Bo (Author)
• June 19, 2013

Online 18. A Survey for Hα Pulsar Bow Shocks [2014]

• Brownsberger, Sasha (Author)

Online 19. Imaging Redshift Estimates for Fermi BL Lacs [2014]

• Stadnik, Matthew (Author)

Online 20. Nonlinear Spectroscopy of Rubidium and Frequency Stabilization of a 1560 nm Diode Laser [2014]

• Yan, Zoe (Author)

Online 21. An Investigation of Mysterious Oscillations in Black Hole Accretion Disks [2015]

• Levine, Adam (Author)

Online 22. Angle-Resolved Photoemission Spectroscopic Study of Cuprate Fermiology in Bilayer Bismuth Strontium Calcium Copper Oxide [2015]

• Zong, Alfred (Author)

Online 23. No Negative Modes About the Axionic Wormhole Instanton [2015]

• Kinsella, Alex (Author)
• June 5, 2015

Online 24. Table-Top THz Pulses via Large-Area Photoconductive Antennas [2015]

• Garland, Rex (Author)
• June 10, 2015

Online 25. Understanding the Role of Charge Mobility and Recombination in Organic Photovoltaics [2015]

• Lam, David (Author)
• May 26, 2015

Online 26. An Investigation of the use of cQED Systems for Quantum Simulation [2016]

• Block, Maxwell (Author)
• June 8, 2016

Online 27. Constraints on a 2D CFT Dual to Weakly Curved AdS Gravity [2016]

• Pallegar, Preethi (Author)
• May 18, 2016

Online 28. Correlated X-ray Scattering of Metallic Nanoparticles at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource [2016]

• Platt, Jason (Author)

Online 29. Exploring Dark Matter Bound During the Formation of the Solar System [2016]

• Robbins, Marc (Author)

Online 30. The presence and mass of nearby massive halos predict galaxy quenching [2016]

• Su, Vincent (Author)
• June 7, 2016

Online 31. Analysis of Electron Hole Propagation in Low-Temperature <111>-aligned Silicon Crystals [2017]

• Allen, James (Author)
• June 7, 2017

Online 32. Characterizing Infrared Filters for Large Aperture Millimeter Wave Telescopes [2017]

• Wandui, Albert (Author)
• April 27, 2017

Online 33. Convolutional Neural Networks for Phase Prediction in Deep Tissue Microscopy [2017]

• Toyonaga, Noah Y. (Author)

Online 34. Entanglement and Transport Properties of Non-Equilibrium Steady States of 1-D Quantum Systems [2017]

• Zanoci, Cristian (Author)

Online 35. Exploring Black Hole Discharge in Massive Electrodynamics [2017]

• Lim, Ian (Author)
• June 2, 2017

Online 36. Quantum tunneling and spontaneous baryogenesis in the relaxion model [2017]

• Xu, Qingyang (Author)
• May 22, 2017

Online 37. Scanning SQUID Microscopy of a Lanthanum Barium Copper Oxide Superconducting Thin Film [2017]

• Ullah, Rahim (Author)

Online 38. An information-theoretic analysis of the ON/OFF pathway split in the Drosophila visual system [2018]

• Zimmerman, David M. (Author)
• June 6, 2018

Online 39. Analysis of the Fourier Mode Phase Distribution in the CMB as a Test of Inflation Theory [2018]

• McCune, Amara (Author)
• June 7, 2018

Online 40. Building a Nanophone: Detecting Surface Acoustic Waves with an Optomechanical Cavity [2018]

• Drimmer, Max (Author)
• May 22, 2018

Online 41. Characterizing Temperature Variations in the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope Camera [2018]

• Rosenberg, Erik (Author)
• May 19, 2018

Online 42. Experimental Challenges of Higgs Boson Identification in Vector Boson Fusing Final States at the Large Hadron Collider [2018]

• Tsang, Arthur (Author)
• May 18, 2018

Online 43. Extremal Kerr Entropy and the Attractor Mechanism [2018]

• Cheng, Newton (Author)
• May 17, 2018

Online 44. No escape: light waves in AdS [2018]

• Mendoza, Ismael (Author)
• May 16, 2018

Online 45. Pound-Drever-Hall Frequency Stabilization for Atom Interferometry [2018]

• Holland, Connor Martin (Author)
• June 14, 2018

Online 46. Single Charge Sensitive High Voltage Phonon Detectors: Development and Applications to the Search for Dark Matter [2018]

• Romani, Roger Kenneth (Author)

Online 47. Towards Ultracold Strontium Atoms [2018]

• Spar, Benjamin (Author)

Online 48. Viral Taxonomy Derived From Evolutionary Genome Relationships [2018]

• Dougan, Tyler (Author)
• May 15, 2018

Online 49. Ν=4 Compactifications of String Theory and Supergravity [2018]

• Sussman, Ethan (Author)

Online 50. A Finite Element Analysis of a Radio for Probing the Dark Sector [2019]

• Froland, Henry (Author)
• May 20, 2019

Online 51. Attractors in Type IIB Calabi-Yau Compactifications [2019]

• Yang, Sungyeon (Author)

Online 52. BAFFLES: Bayesian Ages For Field Lower-Mass Stars [2019]

• Stanford-Moore, Adam (Author)
• May 21, 2019

Online 53. Hunting for Special Solutions in Calabi-Yau Compactifications [2019]

• Hulsey, George (Author)
• May 15, 2019

Online 54. Optical Control of the Motion and Spin of Cold Atoms for Quantum Simulations with Long-Range Interactions [2019]

• Evered, Simon James (Author)

Online 55. Many Faces of Many-Body Quantum Chaos: From Periodic Orbits to Semiclassical Fields and Back [2020]

• Shi, Zhengyan Darius (Author)
• July 7, 2020

Online 56. Optimal control of nanomechanical quantum memory coupled to superconducting qubit [2020]

• Kang, Mingyu (Author)

Online 57. Quantum Projection Filter Model for the Coherent Ising Machine [2020]

• Anand, Shraddha (Author)

Online 58. The BPS Spectrum and Metric on the Moduli Space of Seiberg-Witten Theory [2020]

• Wang, Lark (Author)
• May 19, 2020

Online 59. Using Complex Geometry to Rederive the BPS Spectrum of Seiberg-Witten Theory [2020]

• Roy, Sandip (Author)

Online 60. Bayesian WIMP Parameter Inference for LXe TPCs [2021]

• Fernando, Ishira Upeshala (Author)
• December 31, 2021; May 2021

Online 61. Cuts Optimization and Machine Learning Models for Dark Photon Signal-Background Discrimination with the ATLAS Detector [2021]

• Hofgard, Elyssa (Author)
• June 1, 2021; May 16, 2021

Online 62. Finding spin glass phase of cavity cosine Ising Model with Parallel Tempering Markov Chain Monte Carlo [2021]

• Valenzuela Lombera, Inigo (Author)
• May 14, 2021

Online 63. Momentum Subspaces in Gapped Relativistic Quantum Field Theories as Codespaces for Quantum Error Correction [2021]

• Lee, Yu-Tse (Author)

Online 64. Prospects of High Precision Fiber for Gravitational Wave Detection [2021]

• Shadmany, Danial (Author)

Online 65. Quantum Algorithm for Vector Interpolation [2021]

• Decoppet, Sophie Marie (Author)

Online 66. Causal Structure and Horizon Stability of Black Holes in Curved Spacetimes [2022]

• Tabor, Elisa (Author)
• June 10, 2022; May 2022

Online 67. Dynamics of Mode-Switching in Neural Networks: How nonlinear systems generate behaviour via a thermodynamic process [2022]

• Ticea, Nicole Sabina (Author)
• January 1, 2022; May 2020

Online 68. Engineering Spin Squeezing with Local Interactions [2022]

• Koyluoglu, Nazli Ugur (Author)
• May 24, 2022; May 2022

Online 69. Exploring Associative Memory Performance of Confocal Cavity QED Network [2022]

• Getachew, Yosheb (Author)
• June 9, 2022; June 8, 2022

Online 70. Holographic Quantum Error Correction from half-line-AdS/BCFT [2022]

• Anikeeva, Galit (Author)
• June 3, 2022; June 3, 2021

Online 71. Inflation in Inhomogeneous Universes [2022]

• Wang, Jinhui (Author)
• June 8, 2022; June 6, 2022

Online 72. Modeling Brightest Central Galaxy Magnitude and Magnitude Gaps as Galaxy Cluster Formation History Tracers [2022]

• Simotas, Kathlynn Marie (Author)
• June 10, 2022; May 14, 2021

Online 73. Multiwavelength Mitigation of Stellar Activity in Astrometric Planet Detection [2022]

• Kaplan-Lipkin, Avi (Author)
• May 20, 2022; May 13, 2022

Online 74. Novel Techniques to Measure Micron-Scale Gravity [2022]

• Hough, Emmett (Author)
• June 3, 2022; June 2022

Online 75. Odd Correlations and their Gravitational Duals in the SYK Model [2022]

• Abdalla, Ahmed (Author)
• June 8, 2022; June 2022

Online 76. On the flow of the supercharge in a TTbar-deformed supersymmetric system [2022]

• Haidu Gerea, Paul (Author)
• June 29, 2022; June 2021

Online 77. Youthful Exuberance of FU Ori Accretion Disks [2022]

• Rodriguez, Antonio C. (Author)
• June 9, 2022; June 2020

Online 78. Automated qubit design for superconducting circuit topologies via autodifferentiation [2023]

• Boulton-McKeehan, Alexander (Author)
• June 8, 2023; May 2023

Online 79. Cognitive Framework for Blended Math-Science Sensemaking for Vectors, Vector Operations, and Integrals [2023]

• Murillo Gonzalez, Gabriel (Author)
• June 12, 2023; May 12, 2023

Online 80. Creating Custom Optical Potentials with Spatial Light Modulators [2023]

• Wagner, Cameron (Author)
• May 15, 2023; May 12, 2023

Online 81. Enhancing Fault-tolerant Quantum Computing through the Integration of Topological Error Correction and Concatenation Schemes [2023]

• Li, Zhaoyi (Author)
• May 12, 2023; May 12, 2023

Online 82. Exploring Moiré Transition Metal Dichalcogenide Heterostructures [2023]

• Wang, David (Author)
• May 17, 2023; May 2023

Online 83. Metacommunity Dynamics in Consumer Resource Models [2023]

• Debesai, Serena (Author)

Online 84. 10 TeV Phenomenology of an SO(5) Randall-Sundrum Theory [2024]

• Narayanan, Kalyan (Author)
• December 12, 2024; December 5, 2024

Online 85. A Kinetic Inductance Parametric Amplifier for Quantum Sensing [2024]

• Rosenfeld, Ethan (Author)
• June 9, 2024; June 2024

Online 86. Derivative Matching: A Novel Time Delay Estimation Technique for Localization of Signals in Undersea Fiber Optic Seismometry [2024]

• Brandon, Jack (Author)
• June 9, 2024; May 2024

Online 87. Developing Nonlinear Microwave Impedance Microscopy [2024]

• Zhu, Julia (Author)
• June 7, 2024; June 2024

Online 88. Fast feedback for measurement-based quantum computation with neutral atoms [2024]

• Futamura, Laura (Author)

Online 89. Improving scanning SQUID techniques through numerical simulations, electronics optimization, and noise reduction [2024]

• Loh, Megan (Author)
• May 21, 2024; May 21, 2024

Online 90. Inverse-Designed Nanophotonic Resonators for Cavity Quantum Electrodynamics with Diamond Color Centers [2024]

• Borit, Jean-Michel (Author)
• June 1, 2024; May 26, 2024

Online 91. Investigations into a Continuous Protocol for Bulk Reconstruction of Generalized Free Fields [2024]

• Kemp, Eshan (Author)
• June 7, 2024; May 21, 2024

Online 92. Mapping Out the Zero-Temperature Phase Diagram of a 1D Charge-4e Superconductor [2024]

• Robertson, Michael (Author)
• June 11, 2024; June 10, 2024

Online 93. The Dynamics and Black Hole Binary Mass of 4C+37.11 [2024]

• Surti, Tirth (Author)
• June 7, 2024; June 5, 2024

Online 94. The Effects of Accretion Disk Geometry on the Black Hole Reflection Spectrum [2024]

• Surgent, William (Author)

Online 95. Towards Robust Optimization of Arbitrary Superconducting Qubits [2024]

• Bonkowsky, Sam (Author)
• June 11, 2024; June 2024

Online 96. Transport and Integrability-Breaking in non-Hermitian Many-Body Quantum Systems [2024]

• Mahoney, Dylan (Author)
• June 7, 2024; May 22, 2024

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