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OVERVIEW
Welcome to the Graduate Program in Physics at the University
of Missouri-Columbia! The Department's expectations of graduate
students are simple
-- progress toward your degree goal. Your goals are best met by close
cooperation
between you, your advisor, and the rest of the faculty. We hope that
your
graduate years are productive and successful!
The detailed requirements for obtaining an M.S. or Ph.D. degree in Physics are given in these web pages, which serve as the graduate student handbook. The requirements include:
- a residency requirement (i.e., a specific number of course
hours completed within a given period of time),
- specific required courses,
- passage of evaluation examinations,
- completion of research and a thesis based on research, as
well as
- filing various application forms with signatures of
departmental advisors and other faculty.
While this process sounds intimidating, it actually is not:
with proper attention to details, your graduate work will go smoothly,
and you will proceed quickly to your desired goal.
The Department
Because the Physics and Astronomy Department is relatively
small, graduate students are better able to maintain a close
relationship with the faculty. Our facilities include various
laboratories within the Physics Building as well as the Research
Reactor. In certain cases, a student's work may be done in
collaboration with other Departments in Science and Engineering.
A major interdisciplinary program under development and strongly
supported by the Department is that of Materials Science.
The largest research area is in experimental and theoretical
condensed-matter physics. Graduates in these fields
have been very successful in continuing their careers in industry and
academics. Other research programs in which thesis work may
be accomplished are biological physics and
astronomy/astrophysics.
Departmental Advisers
Overseeing the progress of all graduate students in the
Department is
the Graduate Studies Committee and the Director of Graduate Studies, who have the responsibility to
advise
all newly incoming students. On the basis of
the student's background and interests, they determine what courses are
necessary to meet the needs of the student and the departmental
requirements. In some cases, it may be decided that various 4000
level (upper division undergraduate) courses are desirable before
enrollment in 7000/8000 level (graduate) courses proceeds. A student may
refuse to accept the advice to take suggested undergraduate courses,
but will be asked to sign a written agreement to accept full
responsibility for her/his performance on the Qualifying Examination.
In due course (within 6 months of passing the Qualifying Examination), a research adviser must be selected to
supervise a student's research program leading to a Master's or
Doctoral Degree. The
research adviser becomes the permanent adviser who assesses the
individual student's needs and helps set up a program of courses that
makes each student's progress through the graduate program as smooth as
possible. The adviser, together with the student's thesis committee, has the responsibility of overseeing
the student's progress in
preparing for advancement to degree candidacy and completion of
research
requirements for the degree.
Participation and Assessment
Our graduate students are expected to take a
full and active part in departmental activities. Participation in research
programs, departmental lectures and colloquia are considered an integral part of a
graduate program.
Students are required to document their activities using the Graduate
Student Progress System. The Graduate Student Progress System is
designed to facilitate the collection of information necessary to properly
assess the progress of graduate students. The system can also initiate a
feedback loop between student and adviser, allow academic programs to generate
aggregate reports on their student's achievements, and create a curriculum vita
for a student.
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