Topic for physics undergraduate research

[mitstudent]

I am a physics major.

I took introductory quantum mechanics, theoretical mechanics, general relativity, and math until linear algebra, diff. equations, probability and statistics, and discrete math.

I had decided to do some research while being undergraduate. Approaching faculty members did not succeed since all faculty believed only graduates would do research. (my college is in Egypt - the idea of undergrad research is really absurd.)

I thought that I may come up with a topic first, then I would seek their assistance. They are really helpful but they just do not get it that undergraduates may do research.

Please help me by suggesting a specific topic that I may research - and it would be really appreciated if you could elaborate what textbooks/papers I should be aware of first.

I have no problem if I had to read many textbooks/papers this semester and start research in spring.

 

[mitstudent]

no topics? :D

 

[hadsed]

It's too difficult for an undergraduate to do this sort of thing without the guidance of a professor. I would think it would be easier to just pester some faculty and show examples of undergraduates publishing papers in highly-regarded journals in the U.S. to convince them. I don't think coming up with a research topic would be very impressive, but then again it really depends. You could try looking into a professor's area of research and coming up with an idea within that, but you likely won't have enough understanding to do that.

What you could do is ask them to do a directed reading (like a 1-on-1 study) on something that's related to their area of research. Perhaps you can show them your abilities and convince them to let you do research with them.