The Department of Physics and Astrophysics offers a Master of Science in Physics. This program is designed for students
preparing for doctoral work and for practicing scientists and engineers
interested in an advanced degree. Courses are offered in the evenings,
so students can obtain a degree while working full-time.
The graduate program requires a minimum of 44 quarter hours of graduate credit (11 courses). These include a required core of graduate physics courses in Classical Mechanics, Quantum Mechanics, Electricity and Magnetism, and Computational Physics. Elective graduate course offerings might include Cosmology, Laser Physics, Condensed Matter Physics, Star Formation, Astronomical Data Analysis or Biophysics (among others). In addition, each graduate student is required to complete an independent research project with a department faculty member and write and defend a thesis based on this work. Faculty research descriptions may be found using the Research link to the left. Some students conduct all or part of their thesis research at off-campus facilities such as Argonne's Advanced Photon Source, National Radio Astronomy Observatory, or Loyola University Medical Center.
Recent graduates have taken jobs in industry or entered PhD programs at major universities, such as the University of Denver; Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; University of Arizona; Florida State University; University of New Mexico; University of Montana; University of California, Santa Barbara; and University of California, Davis.
Further information about teaching assistantships may be found under Student Resources.
Learn about Admission to the program.