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Experimental Physics

Posted: Tue Sep 02, 2008 5:32 am
by wexl34
Does anyone have any idea regarding funding for graduate students in specific areas of physics for this year or the following year?
Ranking of Exp Cond.Matter, Exp High Energy, Exp. Plasma and so on?

Re: Experimental Physics

Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 2:43 am
by Helio
I will get out my NSF/NASA funding crystal ball.

Generally, Experi. Condensed Matter has always been strongly funded, but there is high competition. Experimental high energy physics is mostly large collaborations (ATLAS paper with 13 pages of just authors) and they money coming out every hole (just spend 3 months in a HEP lab... they were custom making everything, frying preamps by the dozen, etc. etc., but it was part of a collaboration).

Honestly, choosing research by funding can backfire badly. Do what you like not what the money situation looks like. there is always some grant that you can survive on.

Re: Experimental Physics

Posted: Thu Sep 04, 2008 3:20 pm
by G01
Helio wrote:I will get out my NSF/NASA funding crystal ball.

Generally, Experi. Condensed Matter has always been strongly funded, but there is high competition. Experimental high energy physics is mostly large collaborations (ATLAS paper with 13 pages of just authors) and they money coming out every hole (just spend 3 months in a HEP lab... they were custom making everything, frying preamps by the dozen, etc. etc., but it was part of a collaboration).

Honestly, choosing research by funding can backfire badly. Do what you like not what the money situation looks like. there is always some grant that you can survive on.
Usually experimental research has more funding than theoretical research.

Also if you research has any application to technology or the military, then usually that field has good funding also.

In a field like condensed matter experiment, which is experimental and also has many applications (depending on the research) funding is pretty good. As Helio said, it is competitive, but that will be the case in any field.

Re: Experimental Physics

Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2008 3:32 pm
by Juston
For last year, you can get the funding breakdown (and number of grants) by subject for each university at http://www.gradschoolshopper.com (just look under the table titled "Separately Budgeted Research Expenditures"). In general, CM and HEP are the most well-funded, but they don't have the breakdown for theory and experiment.