Students are required to complete 90 semester hours of graduate course work. This includes 15 hours selecting five out of six core courses covering classical and quantum mechanics, statistical physics, and electromagnetic theory, and 12 hours of 500 or 600 level courses in two different areas of physics. The remaining hours are for dissertation work or other graduate course work in physics and related fields.
In 2007, a specialization in nanophysics was approved. The course requirements for this specialization are a sub-set of the Ph.D. course requirements and are not yet in the catalog. The core course requirements are PHYS 560, PHYS 561, PHYS 563, PHYS 570 and either PHYS 500 or PHYS 571. The distribution requirenments are PHYS 580 plus three courses from (PHYS 500, PHYS 566, PHYS 567, PHYS 571, PHYS 668, PHYS 690A, CHEM 500G, CHEM 541, CHEM 542, ELE 532, ELE 535, ELE 536, ELE 637. MEE 511, MEE 534, MEE 550, MEE 592). Students in this specialization are required to pass the same Ph.D. candidacy examination.
Transfer credits for students entering with a master's degree or with graduate coursework from another institution are allowed. Transfer credits are limited to a total of 30 semester hours.
Typically each semester some courses are offered in the evening in order to accomodate non-traditional and part-time students.
Students entering the program without a master's degree in physics are required to pass a MS qualifying examination covering undergraduate material, which is usually taken during the first year. This can be waived given a physics GRE score of 50%.
Successful completion of a Ph.D. candidacy examination based on the core courses and and upper-level undergraduate courses is required of all students in the Ph.D. program.
The Ph.D. candidacy exam is divied into four areas: classical mechanics, quantum mechanics, E&M, and modern and statistical physics.
Beginning in Fall 2007, stundents entering our program with a B.S. degree are required to pass this exam during their first three years while students entering with a M.S. have two years. The Physics Graduate Manual describes exam policies further.