Physics & Astronomy

College of Engineering and Physical Sciences

Physics & Astronomy Graduate Program Mission Statement

The graduate program in the Department of Physics & Astronomy aspires to the highest standards of excellence in research, teaching, and learning.  Graduate courses will be taught in effective ways that enable our students to pursue productive professional lives that meet tomorrow's scientific and technical challenges.  World-class research will be conducted that is not only relevant beyond academia, but also synergistic with the needs of our students.

Physics & Astronomy Graduate Program Expectations

Graduate students are expected to master the four major areas of physics (Mechanics, Electricity & Magnetism, Quantum Mechanics, and Statistical Physics) at the undergraduate level, and understand their chosen specialty at the graduate level.

Graduate students should be capable of using advanced scientific experimental/observational/computational/theoretical methods appropriate to their subdiscipline to conduct independent research.

Graduate students should be able to clearly communicate the results of scientific analysis in written and oral form at a professional level.

Graduate students should know the current areas of research, key open questions, and seminal literature within their subdiscipline.

Graduate students should be competent in teaching at the college level using the best pedagogical methods as determined by current physics education research.

Complete information on our expectations and the typical graduate experience in our program may be found in the Graduate Handbook found here.