Theoretical Physics

Professor Surajit Sen has broad interests that span fundamental and applied problems in nonlinear and statistical physics, study of conflicts and battles, social systems, etc. He came to UB in 1993. He taught freshman level classes every spring until 2020 and now teaches largely graduate level courses. He has published some 175+ refereed papers, has a patent on acoustic detection of landmines, and has edited 5 refereed volumes. He has given nearly 200 invited talks in universities, national labs and conferences worldwide. His accomplishments have been recognized by his election as a Fellow of the American Physical Society (2008) and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2012). Dr Sen has served as a Fulbright-Nehru Fellow in India in 2017-18 and as a Jefferson Science Fellow of the US National Academies in 2020-21. During this period he was a Senior Science Advisor at the US Agency for International Development in Washington, DC.  He has been a Distinguished Visiting Professor of Bioscience and Bioengineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Jodhpur in 2023. He is also deeply interested in ways to effectively teach physics to the uninitiated and has written refereed papers on the topic

Professor Sen enjoys working with students at all levels. He has mentored some 20+ PhD students, and 3 MS students. He currently advises 1 PhD student. He has mentored some 35+ undergrads over the years. Some of these students have gone on to become professors at MIT, Stanford, etc. One requirement for working in Professor Sen's group is to know some computing and some basic physics. Freshman, unless exceptionally well prepared, are typically not quite ready for much of the work done in the group.

His current interests focus on the dynamical behavior of strongly nonlinear systems. Granular systems (eg., a bunch of solid spheres, sand and soil, sesame or mustard seeds, even nanoparticles, etc) and various solid and mushy systems remain the focus of his interests. His group uses mostly simulation based studies. Some works are based on analytical theory as well (this is usually not possible for most systems). He also has some new found interests in modeling the behavior of animal societies, including human beings, election processes, studying sustainable cities, and desert ecosystems. 

The projects are best suited for students with GPA greater than or equal to 3.6, with exceptional programming skills, and knowledge of at least first semester physics (PHY 101 or 107) and skills in calculus.

Most students in Prof Sen's group tend to continue research beyond one semester. The goal is not the course credit but work toward a high quality peer reviewed publication. Short term small scale projects are not feasible in this research area

Research Project Information:
Projects are crafted based on overlap of interest and how doable the problems are.

Physics