Career in Dark Energy: Pursuing a Physics Major at UIUC

[britsid815]

I am currently a physics major at UIUC. I find dark matter/energy extremely fascinating. I do not know what would be the best path to take in order for me to pursue dark energy as a career. I am sure I would need to go to graduate school, but what division of physics does dark energy fit into? Astronomy?

Thank you

 

[e.bar.goum]

I am currently a physics major at UIUC. I find dark matter/energy extremely fascinating. I do not know what would be the best path to take in order for me to pursue dark energy as a career. I am sure I would need to go to graduate school, but what division of physics does dark energy fit into? Astronomy?

Thank you

Cosmology, which you can approach from a theoretical or an observational perspective.

ETA: I knew UIUC had involvement in dark energy - UIUC is part of the Dark Energy Survey (DES) collaboration!http://physics.illinois.edu/news/story.asp?id=2642 They're doing some cool stuff. You should see if you can do some undergrad research.

 

[QuantumCurt]

At an undergraduate level, there's not going to be much difference between physics curricula. Grad school would be a necessity. The most likely focus would be somewhere in the realm of cosmology and/or particle physics, depending on the approach. As previously mentioned, UIUC is involved in the Dark Energy Survey. It would be worth contacting some of the researchers involved in it and possibly even getting hired on to do some research with them.