Materials Physicist

A materials physicist studies how matter behaves at very small scales and uses that knowledge to create better materials. Your days mix lab work, computer modeling, and writing. You might grow thin films, test how a new polymer conducts electricity, measure the properties of graphene or other two-dimensional materials, and then analyze the data to understand why they behave as they do. You work with chemists, engineers, and fellow physicists, and you often explain results in group meetings and papers. Much of the work is collaborative, so you also learn to read other scientists' papers critically and adjust your plans when a result surprises you.