Programs

The research activities of the program are both theoretical and experimental and cover the main areas of interest in contemporary physics, including astrophysics, condensed-matter and statistical physics, surface physics, elementary particle physics, and nuclear physics. Experimental facilities are located on campus in Serin, a modern research laboratory. The surface modification and interface dynamics laboratory houses 1.7 MeV tandetron and 400-keV ion accelerators as well as scanning tunneling microscopes and other surface analytical equipment. There also are several mK-range dilution refrigerators available that are used in low-temperature physics studies. Nuclear structure experiments are carried out at accelerators at Yale University and the Argonne; Oak Ridge, Tennessee; and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories in Berkeley, California. Intermediate experiments are done at the continuous electron beam facilities at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility in Newport News, Virginia. Elementary-particle physics experiments are carried out at  CERN, in Geneva, Switzerland; at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois; and at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center in Menlo Park, California. Rutgers astrophysicists use the Kitt Peak Observatory in Arizona, the Cerro-Tololo facilities in Chile, and the SALT telescope in South Africa. Particle astrophysics is carried out at the Hi Res detector in Utah. The New High Energy Theory Center and the Center for Materials Theory are world-class centers for elementary particle and condensed-matter theory.

The program for the master's degree requires a minimum of 30 credits and includes either a critical essay or a thesis on a research problem.

The program for the Ph.D. degree requires a dissertation and an appropriate combination of coursework and research credits. The qualifying examination is given in two parts, written and oral. With the approval of the graduate director, courses in other programs may be added to those conducted by the graduate program in physics and astronomy. Ph.D. candidates normally are expected to spend at least one year in full-time residence, although this requirement may be waived by the graduate studies committee. There is no language requirement. The master of philosophy degree is available to doctoral candidates.

Teaching assistantships or research fellowships are available for both first-year and advanced graduate students, and virtually all students receive financial support. Assistants spend no more than 15 hours per week on their duties and normally take 6 to 10 credits of graduate courses each semester. Fellowships normally do not entail special duties, and those who hold fellowships can devote their entire time to coursework and to research for their Ph.D. dissertation.

Applications should include the results of the general aptitude test and the advanced physics test of the Graduate Record Examination. Applicants whose native language is not English are required to take the TOEFL or the IELTS examinations. Further information about these and other matters may be found at the program's website: http://www.physics.rutgers.edu.