Welcome to G-PhAsER!

We're the University of Georgia Physics and Astronomy Education Research group. We're involved in a variety of efforts to improve education at the undergraduate and graduate levels at the University of Georgia and beyond. Current topics of interest include problem solving in physics, introductory physics labs, virtual and extended reality in astronomy courses, teaching assistant training, artificial intelligence in physics education, and graduate admissions in physics and astronomy.

What has G-PhAsER been up to?


August 29th, 2024: James wins CURO Research Award in support of research

James Squires won a CURO Research Award for Fall 2024. This award will support his research with Nandana and Nick into the social aspects of success in introductory physics.

August 21, 2024: Nandana wins an Active Learning Change Grant

Nandana along with collaborator Inseok Song have won a UGA Active Learning Change Grant related to using telescopes in introductory astronomy courses. Congratulations!

August 12, 2024: G-PhAsER hosts Eric Burkholder from Auburn University

Eric received an SEC Faculty Travel award to visit G-PhAsER. These awards are designed to build and strengthen collaborations between SEC universities.

July 7, 2024: G-PhAsER presents at AAPT and PERC.

Christopher, David, and Nick presented three talks and five posters at the American Association of Physics Teachers' Summer Meeting and Physics Education Research Conference in Boston, MA.

June 6, 2024: Nick gives talk at APS meeting

Nick gave an invited talk at the 55th Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics. His talk was titled "Toward a More Equitable and Effective Physics Graduate Admissions Process".

June 3, 2024: Nandana gives talk at Tech Ed 2024

Nandana's invited talk is titled "Effective Active Learning: Exploring Both Challenges and Solutions."​

April 15, 2024: G-PhAsER members present at the University System of Georgia's Teaching and Learning Conference

David's talk was Investigating Lab Teaching Quality of Graduate TAs as Novice Instructors, Nandana's infographic was Evaluating the impact of exam preparation strategies on student performance, Nick's infographic was Using generative artificial intelligence to make course materials more visually engaging in STEM courses, and Robin's infographic was Enhancing Astronomy Education: Demonstrating Astronomical Phenomena using Immersive 3D Learning Experiences.

April 13, 2024: G-PhAsER members present at SACS-AAPT

David, Robin, and Zain presented posters at the SACS-AAPT meeting at the University of South Carolina and also served as panelists for an activel learing workshop. David also won the best poster award for his poster about lab QR codes in Physics 1251. Congratulations!

April 11, 2024: Robin defends his master's thesis

Robin's thesis is titled Enhancing astronomy education with three-dimensional resources.

April 8, 2024: G-PhAsER members present posters at Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities Symposium

Madison Ogle presented How Do Physics Teaching Assistants Adapt Their Pedagogy as They Repeat Instruction? and James Squires presented Improving STEM Education with Student Outcome Predictive Analytics.

April 4, 2024: Nandana wins two awards

Nandana has won both the Sandy Beaver Excellence in Teaching award and the Office of Instruction's Creative Teaching award. Congratulations, Nandana!

March 4, 2024: Craig and Nandana publish paper on changing career plans in STEM

As part of a UGA collaboration, Craig and Nandana published Beyond STEM attrition: changing career plans within STEM fields in college is associated with lower motivation, certainty, and satisfaction about one’s career in the International Journal of STEM Education.

November 11, 2023: G-PhAsER members present at the Southeastern Section of the American Physical Society meeting

David and Robin presented posters about their research, and Craig gave a talk about integrating computation into the physics curriculum at SESAPS.

People

G-PhAsER is a community of faculty, graduate students, and undergraduates at the University of Georgia. Click a photo to visit that person's professional website.

Faculty

Adithya Kuchibhotla

Hina Shaikh

Nandana Weliweriya

Craig Wiegert

Nicholas Young

Graduate Students

Christopher Overton

David Seiden

Undergraduate Students

Madison Ogle

James Squires

Alumni

Robin Allen

Publications

Journal Papers

Conference Papers

Theses and Dissertations

Posters

Recent Posters

Enhancing Student Learning through Video-Based Exam Corrections (Pencasts) in Introductory Physics Courses (SESAPS 2023)
Laboratory Instruction Enhancement: Utilizing QR Codes and Digital Resources in Introductory STEM Courses (SESAPS 2023)
Enhancing Astronomy Education: Demonstrating Astronomical Phenomena using Immersive 3D Learning Experiences Motivation(SESAPS 2023)

All posters

Contact G-PhAsER

The G-PhAsER webpage is maintained by Dr. Nicholas Young. You can email him at nicholas.young {at} uga.edu.

Join G-PhAsER

Current UGA students

  • Current undergraduate or graduate students interested in getting involved in a research project should contact Drs. Wiegert, Weliweriya, or Young for opportunities within their projects.
  • Students interested in joining our biweekly group meeting should contact Dr. Young.

Prospective graduate students

  • Prospective applicants for the Fall 2025 graduate student cohort should contact Drs. Wiegert, Weliweriya, or Young for potential opportunities.

Post-PhD opportunities

  • There are no postdoctoral or faculty openings at this time.