About the Graduate Program

​​Ph.D. Degree

Students may enter the Ph.D. program after successfully completing an M.S. degree program, at the University of Delaware or elsewhere, or may be admitted directly to the Ph.D. program directly after a bachelor’s degree. To obtain a Ph.D., students will normally follow the course intensive regular track. Students entering the program with an M.S. degree in Physics or Astronomy that are particularly well prepared may choose to follow the less coursework intensive fast track.

In addition to fulfilling the course requirements, Ph.D. students must:

• pass the Ph.D. candidacy exam, which has two oral components,
• upon successful completion of a research program, write a Ph.D. dissertation thesis showing originality of thought and scholarship.

The dissertation is defended in an oral examination administered by the student's dissertation committee.​

​M.S. Degree with Thesis

The M.S. with thesis requires 24 credits hours in PHYS courses, including at most 3 credits of research (PHYS 868). At least 6 credits of classroom courses must be at the PHYS 800 level. In addition, 6 credits of thesis work (PHYS 869) are required. The purpose of the M.S. thesis is to demonstrate that the student can conduct research under supervision and communicate the results clearly in English. The thesis is defended in an oral examination administered by a committee of three members of the Department.​​

​M.S. Degree Without T​hesis ​

The M.S. without thesis degree requires 30 credit hours in PHYS courses, including at most 3 credits of research (PHYS 868). At least 6 credits of classroom courses must be at the PHYS 800 level. In addition, the degree candidate will survey the literature on a current topic in physics or astronomy, write a report on this topic and make a public presentation to the department, represented by three members of its faculty (appointed by the director of ​the graduate program with approval of the chair of the department).​

​​​Research

A graduate physics education should stimulate intellectual excitement and instill the knowledge, skills, confidence, independence, and versatility needed for a successful career in either the sciences and other quantitative or technical fields. Essential to this goal is a talented, enthusiastic, and imaginative faculty committed to the professional development of graduate students. Graduate program faculty and students are involved in a variety of experimental, theoretical, and computational research activities. In-house experimental research laboratories are well equipped for studies of condensed and molecular matter. Off-campus research activities involve high altitude balloon flights, a worldwide network of neutron monitors, and cosmic ray and solar observatories in Antarctica. Faculty and students also conduct research at national laboratories, both in the U.S. and abroad, and make use of a variety of ground- and space-based astronomical observatories.​​

How do beginning graduate students select an adviser?​

Beginning graduate students have ample opportunity to learn about faculty research in much greater detail through a faculty research seminar PHYS600 given during the Fall semesters of their first year. In addition, informal discussions with more senior graduate students are useful in determining both an area and an adviser for research.​

Colloquium and Seminars

Essential to the vitality of the Departmental research effort is an extensive Seminar and Colloquium program in which visitors from other universities and laboratories, foreign and domestic, discuss frontiers of research.​

​Teaching Assistantships

Nearly all graduate students in the program are at some point or another supported as Teaching Assistants. Visit the UD’s Graduate College for information on academic policies and the Center for Teaching & Assessment of Learning for helpful guidance and resources.​

​Research Assistantships

Graduate students after their fifth semester in the program are supported by a research group as Research Assistants​. In addition to standard research groups run by individual faculty, the Department also hosts five Research Centers (Bartol Research Institute, Center for Spintronics and Biodetection, Delaware Astero​seismic Research Center, Center for Advanced Magnetics, and Center for Space Radiation Effects) which allow qualified students to become Research Assistants during their first year in Delaware.​​