[ undergraduate program | courses | faculty ]
Graduate Student Affairs:
Room 2561 Mayer Hall Addition
All courses, faculty listings, and curricular and degree requirements described herein are subject to change or deletion without notice.
The Department of Physics offers curricula leading to the following degrees:
MS, Physics
CPhil, Physics
PhD, Physics
PhD, Physics (Biophysics)
PhD, Physics, Specialization in Computational Neuroscience
PhD, Physics, Specialization in Computational Science
PhD, Physics, Specialization in Quantitative Biology
Biophysics students will receive their MS (if applicable) and CPhil degrees in physics. Only their PhD will be in physics (biophysics).
Entering graduate students are required to have a sound knowledge of undergraduate mechanics, electricity, and magnetism; to have had senior courses or their equivalent in atomic and quantum physics, nuclear physics, and thermodynamics; and to have taken upper-division laboratory work. An introductory course in solid-state physics is desirable.
Students may choose to pursue a master’s degree en route to the PhD or may choose to leave with a terminal MS Requirements for the master of science degree can be met according to Plan I (master’s thesis) or Plan II (comprehensive examination). (See “Graduate Studies: Master’s Degrees.”) For Plan II, the comprehensive examination is an oral exam. A list of acceptable courses is available in the Department of Physics Graduate Student Affairs office.
The program offers a MS in physics with specialization in materials physics. It is open only to UC San Diego undergraduates, and is a Plan I program only (thesis). During the first quarter of the senior undergraduate year, students enrolled in the BS degree program with specialization in materials physics (see above) may apply for admission to the MS program. To be eligible, students must have completed the first two quarters of their junior year in residence at UC San Diego and have a GPA of at least 3.0 in both their major and overall undergraduate curriculum. It is strongly recommended that BS students who intend to apply to the MS program take MAE 160, ECE 103, and ECE 134 as restricted BS electives.
It is the responsibility of the prospective BS/MS student to select a faculty member (from the Department of Physics or, with Physics department approval, from the MAE, ECE, or Chemistry departments) who would be willing to serve as the student’s adviser and with whom the student would complete at least twelve units of S/U graded research. Research could commence as early as the undergraduate senior year; research units taken during the senior year would count only toward the MS degree and not toward the BS. The student must confirm that the selected faculty adviser will not be on off-campus sabbatical leave during any quarter of the scheduled BS/MS project.
Students are expected to meet the requirements for the MS in one year (three consecutive academic quarters) from the date of receipt of the BS. Any deviation from this plan, such as a break in enrollment for one or more quarters, may result in the student being dropped from the program.
The requirements for the MS are as follows:
FALL |
WINTER |
SPRING |
YEAR 4 |
||
PHYS 130B |
PHYS 124 |
PHYS 133 |
PHYS 140A |
PHYS 152A |
PHYS 152B |
PHYS RE (undergrad) |
PHYS RE (undergrad) |
PHYS RE (undergrad) |
PHYS 295 |
PHYS 295 |
PHYS 295 |
YEAR 5 |
||
RE/PHYS 295 |
RE/PHYS 295 |
RE/PHYS 295 |
RE |
MATS 201A |
MATS 201C |
RE/295 |
MATS 201B |
RE |
FALL |
WINTER |
SPRING |
PHYS 295 |
PHYS 295 |
PHYS 295 |
RE |
Mat Sci 201A |
Mat Sci 201C |
RE/295 |
Mat Sci 201B |
RE |
The department has developed a flexible PhD program that provides a broad, advanced education in physics while at the same time giving students opportunity for emphasizing their special interests. This program consists of graduate courses, apprenticeship in research, teaching experience, and thesis research.
Entering students are assigned a faculty adviser to guide them in their program. Many students spend their first year as teaching assistants or fellows and begin apprentice research in their second year. Prior to establishing a research adviser, assigned faculty advisers will conduct an annual progress review for each student. When a student’s association with a research area and research supervisor is well established, that faculty member will conduct the annual research review. After two years of graduate study, or earlier, students complete the departmental qualifying requirements and begin thesis research. Students specializing in biophysics make up deficiencies in biology and chemistry during the first two years and complete the departmental qualifying requirements by the end of their third year of graduate study. There is no foreign language requirement.
Entering students must take an entrance diagnostic exam on undergraduate physics. The exam will cover mechanics, electricity and magnetism, quantum mechanics, and statistical mechanics and mathematical methods. Students who are found to have serious weaknesses in preparation will be directed to enroll in appropriate undergraduate upper-division courses.
Students are required to pass core courses, advanced graduate courses, teaching requirement, PhD candidacy examination, and a final defense of the thesis as described below.
Physics students are required to take seven core courses (PHYS 200A Theoretical Mechanics I, PHYS 201 Mathematical Methods in Physics, PHYS 203A-B Advanced Classical Electrodynamics I and II, PHYS 210A Equilibrium Statistical Mechanics, PHYS 212A-B Quantum Mechanics I and II) with a grade of B or better and two elective courses with a grade of B+ or better. Elective courses may also count toward the department’s advanced graduate course requirement.
Students are expected to complete these courses by the end of their first year with the requisite grades but will be given up to two years to complete. A department qualification committee will review all students and recommend corrective measures for students who do not meet the course grade standards. Students who do not qualify after two years may be asked to leave the program. Biophysics PhD students will be expected to complete these courses by the end of their second year with the requisite grades but will be given an additional year if necessary.
The university requires an annual evaluation of each graduate student’s progress toward PhD candidacy and thesis defense in spring quarter. These annual spring evaluations are to be conducted by a student’s assigned adviser until a research supervisor is well established. After advancing to candidacy, spring evaluations must be conducted by at least three members of the doctoral committee.
Physics students are required to take five advanced graduate courses from at least three of the groups listed below no later than the end of the third year of graduate work. A 3.0 average over the five courses is required. (In lieu of the course requirement, students may petition to take an oral examination covering three areas of physics.)
Students enrolled in the Biophysics PhD program select five courses from biology, biochemistry, chemistry, or physics in consultation with their adviser. At least three courses must be graduate courses. For more information, see the Biophysics section, below.
In order to be advanced to candidacy, students must have met the departmental requirements and obtained a faculty research supervisor. At the time of application for advancement to candidacy, a doctoral committee responsible for the remainder of the student’s graduate program is appointed by the dean of the Graduate Division. The committee conducts the PhD qualifying examination during which students must demonstrate the ability to engage in thesis research. This involves the presentation of a plan for the thesis research project. The committee may ask questions directly or indirectly related to the project and questions on general physics which it determines to be relevant. Upon successful completion of this examination, students are advanced to candidacy and are awarded the Candidate of Philosophy degree.
All graduate students are required to participate in the physics undergraduate teaching program as part of their career training. The main component of this requirement is an evaluated classroom-based teaching activity. All graduate student teaching accomplishments are subject to the approval of the Vice Chair for Education. There are several ways to satisfy the teaching requirement, including: (1) leading discussions as a teaching assistant, (2) practical classroom teaching, under faculty supervision, (3) participation in an approved teaching development program offered by the Department of Physics or the campus Center for Engaged Teaching, or (4) transferred teaching credit from another institution or department. Students who satisfy the requirement by teaching at UC San Diego should enroll in PHYS 500 in the fall quarter during or prior to which they complete it.
When students have completed their theses, they are asked to present and defend them before their doctoral committees.
In accordance with university policy, the Department of Physics has established the following time limits for progress to the PhD. A student’s research progress committee helps ensure that these time limits are met.
Theorists |
Experimentalists |
|
Advancement to Candidacy |
three years |
three years |
Total Registered Time and Support |
seven years |
eight years |
The Department of Physics offers a graduate program which prepares students for a career in biophysics and that leads to the following degrees:
CPhil in Physics
PhD in Physics (Biophysics)
Biophysics students will receive their MS and CPhil degrees in physics. Only their PhD will be in physics (biophysics).
The PhD program consists of graduate courses, apprenticeship in research, teaching experience, and thesis research. Research in biophysics is being actively pursued in several departments (physics, chemistry/biochemistry, and biology) that also offer courses in, or courses relevant to, biophysics.
The specialization in biophysics requires that students complete many of the same requirements as for the physics PhD. Students must complete the core and elective courses for qualification, advanced graduate courses, PhD candidacy examination, teaching requirement, and a final defense of the thesis. However, the requirements for the core and elective courses for qualification and advanced courses differ slightly from those of the PhD.
Biophysics PhD students are required to complete the core and elective courses for qualification by the end of their second year with the requisite grades but will be given an additional year if necessary. Biophysics students are required to pass five courses from biology, chemistry, biochemistry, or physics no later than the end of the third year of graduate study. The course plan shall be determined in consultation with the adviser. At least three of these courses must be graduate courses. A 3.0 average over the five courses is required. (In lieu of the course requirement, students may petition to take an oral examination covering three areas of physics.)
The Neuroscience Graduate Program, Department of Physics, and Department of Bioengineering offer a specialization in computational neuroscience. Students from these departments or program that pursue the computational neuroscience specialization are trained in the broad range of scientific and technical skills essential to understand the computational and theoretical basis of neural systems. Students in this specialization will be required to fulfill all of the academic requirements for a doctoral degree in their home department or program and must successfully complete a set of three core computational courses, any other course work as directed by the computational neuroscience committee, and successfully defend a thesis on an approved topic.
BGGN 260/PHYS 279/BENG 260 (Neurodynamics), PHYS 278 (Biophysical Basis of Neuronal Dynamics), and COGS 260 (Algorithms for the Analysis of Neural Data).
See “PhD in Mathematics with Specialization in Computational Science” for more information.
The UC San Diego campus is offering a new comprehensive PhD specialization in computational science that will be available to doctoral candidates in participating academic departments at UC San Diego.
This PhD specialization is designed to allow students to obtain training in their chosen field of science, mathematics, or engineering with additional training in computational science integrated into their graduate studies. Prospective students must apply and be admitted into the PhD program in physics, and then be admitted to the CSME program.
Areas of research in the Department of Physics will include computational astrophysics and cosmology (studying star formation and the large-scale structure of the universe), computational condensed matter physics (studying nanodevices), computational quantum field theory (studying the four basic forces of nature), computational biological physics (protein folding and other biologically important complex structures), computational nonlinear dynamics, and computational plasma physics. Each faculty member works with graduate students on the listed research topics.
The specialization in computational science requires that students complete all home requirements for the physics PhD degree. Students are required to pass the core and elective courses with requisite grades for qualification, advanced course requirements, PhD candidacy examination, teaching requirement, and a final defense of the thesis. The qualifying and elective courses for the CSME program (e.g., PHYS 241-244) can be used as part of the advanced course requirement, which is the same as for the physics PhD.
Qualifying Requirements: In addition to the home department qualifying exam requirements, PhD students must take the final exams in three qualifying exam courses from the list below. Courses taken to satisfy the qualifying requirements will not count toward the elective requirements.
List A: CSME Qualifying Exam Courses
Elective Requirements: To encourage PhD students to both broaden themselves in an area of science or engineering as well as to obtain more specialized training in specific areas of computational science, students will be required to take and pass three elective courses from the following approved List B (four units per course). The Executive Committee may approve the use of courses not appearing on the following list on a case-by-case basis. Courses taken to satisfy the elective requirements will not count toward the qualifying requirements.
List B: Relevant Elective Graduate Courses in Mathematics, Science, and Engineering
Program Policies: The following is a list of policies for the PhD specialization with regard to proficiency, qualifying, and elective requirements:
YEAR 1: PHYSICS CORE COURSES |
||
PHYS 200A |
PHYS 203A |
PHYS 203B |
PHYS 201 |
PHYS 212B |
PHYS 210A |
PHYS 212A |
|
|
YEAR 2: CSME QUALIFYING COURSES |
||
MATH 275 |
Non-Physics Elective |
PHYS 244 |
PHYS 243 |
Adv Physics Course |
Adv Physics Course |
YEAR 3: CSME ELECTIVE COURSES |
||
Non-Physics Elective |
PHYS 241 |
PHYS 242 |
A specialization in quantitative biology spanning four divisions—Biological Sciences, Physical Sciences, Jacobs School of Engineering, and Health Sciences—is available to doctoral candidates in physics. This PhD specialization is designed to train students to develop and apply quantitative theoretical and experimental approaches to studying fundamental principles of living systems. The core of this specialization comprises one year of theory courses and one year of lab courses, most of which can be counted toward satisfying physics elective requirements. For more information students should contact the Student Affairs Office.
The department offers a weekly colloquium on topics of current interest in physics and on departmental research programs. Students are expected to register and attend the colloquium.
The department offers regular seminars in several areas of current interest. Students are strongly urged to enroll for credit in seminars related to their research interests and, when appropriate, to enroll in advanced graduate courses beyond the departmental requirement. To help beginning students choose a research area and a research supervisor, the department offers a special seminar (PHYS 261) that surveys physics research at UC San Diego.
Students have an option of obtaining credit for a physics graduate course by taking the final examination without participating in any class exercises. They must, however, officially register for the course and notify the instructor and the Department of Physics graduate student affairs office of their intention no later than the first week of the course.
