LSA researchers in the natural sciences focus on understanding the physical world through observation and experimentation. The patience, creativity, and rigor of our scientists yields many discoveries, from tools for safer medicine to interdisciplinary data science that looks for better ways to mine the web.
Meet the Associate Dean
Interim Associate Dean for the Natural Sciences, Professor of Physics
Faculty Profile
A physicist, Campbell’s research in High Energy Physics focuses on the properties of elementary particles to better understand how the universe works at its most fundamental level. He is currently working on the Mu2e experiment at the Fermilab accelerator, studying the fundamental forces of muons.
Units in the Natural Sciences
Applied Physics Program
Research in Applied Physics tackles the fundamentals of modern physics while exploring applications in the context of various branches of engineering, bio and medical science, chemistry, geology, environmental science, natural resources and public policy.
Astronomy
Research in the department falls into three broad categories - Cosmology, Extragalatic, & Galactic; Extreme Astrophysics; and Stars & Exoplanets - with many faculty members spanning more than one area.
Biological Station
The core mission of the University of Michigan Biological Station is to advance environmental field research, engage students in scientific discovery using ecosystems and their organismal constituents as objects of study, and provide information needed to better understand and sustain natural systems at local through global scales.
Chemistry
The Chemistry Department has 6 major research areas: Analytical Chemistry, Chemical Biology, Inorganic Chemistry, Materials Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, and Physical Chemistry.
Complex Systems
The Center for the Study of Complex Systems (CSCS) is a broadly interdisciplinary program whose mission is to encourage and facilitate research and education in the general area of nonlinear, dynamical and adaptive systems.
Earth & Environmental Sciences
The research mission of the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Michigan is to understand the origin, evolution, and future of the Earth.
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
The Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology embraces research on virtually all aspects of biodiversity, including: origins and history of species ranging from bacteria to humans, processes by which this diversity has evolved, and ecological context in which this evolution takes place.
Mathematics
Mathematics is as much a science of form as it is of number. The core areas of research are Analysis, Algebra, Geometry/Topology, and Applied Mathematics.
Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology
MCDB conducts basic research about the function of all branches of life — bacteria, plants, and animals.
Museum of Paleontology
Paleontology is the branch of science devoted to study of the history and meaning of life through geological time.
Physics
Core groups of faculty pursue scholarship in basic and applied research, biophysics and complexity with state-of-the-art laboratory and information-technology facilities.
Biophysics
Biophysicists at Michigan are working in the fields of Structural Biology, Spectroscopy and Microscopy, Computational Biophysics and Bioinformatics, and Biophysical Chemistry.
Program in the Environment
The Program in the Environment (PitE) is distinguished by its environmental subject matter and its interdisciplinary and practical approach.
Statistics
Faculty members in Statistics have traditionally had strong interests in several areas of theoretical statistics and methodology.
