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Sonoma State University |
Programs | ||
| The Department of Physics and Astronomy offers a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Physics, a B.S. in Physics with a Concentration in Applied Physics, a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Physics, and minors in both physics and astronomy. Requirements and suggested study plans may be found in the SSU Catalog.
The B.S. programs are rigorous. The emphasis is on a thorough knowledge of both theoretical and experimental physics. The B.S. in Physics is the recommended curriculum for those intent on graduate school in physics or a closely-related field, such as astronomy. The B.S. in Physics with a Concentration in Applied Physics is the recommended curriculum for those who wish to work in industry as applied scientists or engineers or to attend graduate school in engineering, applied physics, and related fields. Graduates of both B.S. programs have been found to be unusually well prepared for graduate study or for demanding professional positions in science and engineering. The B.A. is flexible. The more popular advisory plan (C) uses calculus and includes the same introductory courses as the B.S. An alternative plan (T) begins with algebra and trigonometry and the introductory physics sequence usually taken by students preparing for the health professions. Upper division courses for the B.A. are chosen by the student and advisor in accordance with the student's individual goals. These goals may include engineering, teaching, science journalism, sales, management, medicine, or law. The B.A. requires a twelve-unit concentration in a field outside physics as well. Prospective students are encouraged to contact the Department Advisor, Dr. Scott Severson. |
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Career Opportunities | |
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Among the 396 physics graduates of SSU are physicists, geophysicists, astronomers, professors, pilots, teachers, and a great many engineers and programmers. Graduates have earned doctorates in physics, applied physics, astronomy, atmospheric science, biomedical physics, biophysics, computer science, geophysics, law, materials science, mathematics, medicine, and physical chemistry. Others have earned master's degrees in business administration, civil and environmental engineering, education, electrical engineering, energy engineering, history of science, international management, mechanical engineering, nuclear engineering, political science, psychology, public administration, scientific instrumentation, security management, systems management, and theology. Still other graduates have started small businesses in solar energy, robotics, solar construction, computer repair, and electronics. See what our graduates are doing. Graduates work in electronics, optics, telecommunications, and aerospace; they teach in high schools and colleges; they are found in national laboratories operating particle accelerators and giant telescopes. Some are corporate executives. More than two-thirds of the graduates have kept in touch with the Department. They report that their employers are quite pleased with the depth and breadth of their training. As the nation moves to meet the technological challenges of our time, the demand for well-educated men and women with an undergraduate education in physics continues to grow. |
| For many years Sonoma State University has been among the leaders in the California State University system in the proportion of its undergraduates majoring in physics and in the annual number of physics graduates. The Department emphasizes individualized undergraduate instruction based on hands-on experience with modern equipment, and many students pursue individual research projects. As of the 2004–06 catalog, all physics majors take a “Capstone Course” in instructional design, project design, or undergraduate research. Physics students learn nature's laws and how to apply them to problems in optics, electronics, solids, materials, biophysics, energy, and the universe. They become proficient in electronics and computing as they learn to plan research programs, gather data, and analyze that data with computer and brain.
SSU physics students have won national Goldwater scholarships, a National Science Foundation Fellowship, a National Center for Atmospheric Research fellowship, and assistantships and fellowships from many graduate schools, including Caltech (where one won the prize for best doctoral dissertation of 1998), UC Berkeley, Harvard, Stanford, and MIT. They have been selected for summer research programs at the Space Telescope Science Institute, National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Maria Mitchell Observatory, Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Lawrence Berkeley and Livermore National Laboratories, and the Argonne, Oak Ridge, and Brookhaven National Laboratories, as well as many research universities. They have presented papers at meetings of physics and astronomy societies and co-authored papers for scholarly journals. A combination public lecture series and undergraduate colloquium called “What Physicists Do” has brought outstanding scientists and engineers, including thirteen Nobel laureates, to the campus each week since 1971. |
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Facilities | |
| All of the Department's resources are devoted to undergraduate education. Even the most advanced equipment is for student use. An on-campus observatory with a computer-controlled telescope and charge-coupled device (CCD) imaging system was joined in 2004 by a new, automated observatory at a dark site a half-hour’s drive from SSU. Physics students also use the W.M. Keck Microanalysis Lab and |
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