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, or Biophysics (among others). In addition, each graduate student is required to write an independent research project in theoretical or experimental physics with a department faculty member. An oral examination on the thesis is also required.