Degree Requirements for Integrated Physics Majors

The department of Physics offers curricula leading to the following degrees:

B.S./M.S. Materials Physics (for UCSD Undergraduates only)

M.S. and Ph.D. in Physics

Ph.D. in Physics (Biophysics)

The department has developed a flexible program provides a broad, advanced education and at the same time gives students the opportunity to emphasize their special interests. This program consists of graduate courses, apprenticeship in research, teaching experience, and thesis research.

Entering graduate students are required to have a sound knowledge of undergraduate physics, including junior/senior level courses in classical mechanics and electricity/magnetism; in thermodynamics; and statistical mechanics; and in quantum physics; and to have taken upper-division laboratory courses.

Students specializing in Biophysics take courses in biology and chemistry during the first two years and complete the departmental course requirements and examinations by the end of their third year of graduate study. There is no foreign language requirement.

Research in Biophysics is being actively pursued in several departments (e.g. Physics, chemistry, and biology), which also offer courses in or relevant to biophysics. Graduate students specializing in the area of biophysics within the Department of Physics receive the Ph.D. in Physics (Biophysics).

Master's Degree: Requirements for the M.S. degree can be met by passing the Departmental Exam and obtaining credit in thirty-six units of course work (excluding seminars and research). Up to eight units of graduate work completed at another institution may be transferred with approval of the department and the Dean of Graduate Studies and Research.

Entrance Testing: An entrance test covering undergraduate physics is given to entering students during the first week of orientation to give better guidance to students in their graduate program. The results are not entered in the student's file. Entering students are encouraged to bring the results to the first meeting with their academic advisor. Entering students may elect to take the Departmental Examination instead of taking the Entrance Test.

Requirements for the Ph.D. (Revised, June 2000)
Students are required to complete the following requirements: satisfactorily pass the departmental written exam, complete five advanced graduate courses, a qualifying examination, teaching requirement, and a final defense of the thesis as described below.

1. Departmental Examination

Physics students are required to take the Department Examination after completing one year of graduate work at UCSD. The examination is on the level of material usually covered in upper-division undergraduate and first-year graduate courses in classical mechanics (200A,B), and classical electrodynamics (203A,B), equilibrium statistical mechanics (210A) , quantum mechanics (212A,B,C), and mathematical methods (201). [The numbers in parentheses are the corresponding first year courses.]

The examination is offered twice a year, at the beginning of the fall and spring quarters, and lasts two days, four hours per day. The examination may be repeated once the next time it is offered.

Biophysics students take this examination after completing two years of graduate work.

2. Advanced Graduate Courses

Physics students are required to take five advanced graduate courses (with a grade of C or better) from at least three of the groups listed below no later than the end of the third year of graduate work. A 3.0 average in four of the five courses is required. (In lieu of the course requirement, students may petition to take an oral examination covering three areas of physics.)

Group 1: Physics 218A, 218B, 218C (Plasma); 234 (Nonneutral Plasmas); 235 (Nonlinear
Plasma Th)

Group 2: Physics 210B, 210C (Nonequil Stat Mech); 211A, 211B (Solid State); 219 (Cond. Matt. Lab.); 230 (Adv Solid State); 232 (Electronic Materials); 236 (Many-body Th)

Group 3: Physics 214 (Elem Part); 215A, 215B, 215C (Part & Fields); 217A, 217B (Renorm
Field Th); 222 (Exp Tech Phys); 233 (Adv Elem Part Th)

Group 4: Physics 220 (Group Th); 221A, 221B (Adv Mech); Math 210A, 210B, 210C (Math
Phys); Math 259A, 259B, 259C (Geom Phys)

Group 5: Physics 206 (Biophys); Physics 207 (X-ray Crystall); 213A, 213B (Nucl); 216
(Atomic); 225A, 225B (Relativ); 231 (Collision Th); 271 (BioNeuro/Network); 272 (Bio Materials)

Group 6: Physics 223 (Stel Str); 224 (Instrstel Med); 226 (Galaxies and Galactic Dynamics);
227 (Cosmology); 228 (High Energy Astrophysics and Compact Objects)

Biophysics students select five courses from Biology, Biochemistry, Chemistry, or Physics in consultation with their adviser. At least three of these courses must be graduate courses. Physics courses are to be selected from Groups 1-6 listed above.

3. Instruction in Physics Teaching

After passing the departmental examination and course requirements and before completing a dissertation, students are required to take a total of no fewer than two units of Physics 500 (Physics Instruction). Each unit normally corresponds to approximately five hours per week for one quarter in laboratory sections, recitation sections or problem sessions. This requirement may be waived in special cases by the department chairman.

4. Qualifying Examination and Advancement to Candidacy

In order to be advanced to candidacy, students must have met the departmental requirements and obtained a faculty research supervisor. At the time of application for advancement to candidacy, a doctoral committee responsible for the remainder of the student's graduate program is appointed by the Dean of Graduate Studies & Research. The committee conducts the Ph.D. qualifying examination during which students must demonstrate the ability to engage in thesis research. Usually this involves the presentation of a plan for the thesis research project. The committee may ask questions directly or indirectly related to the project and questions on general physics which it determines to be relevant. Upon successful completion of this examination, students are advanced to candidacy and are awarded the C.Phil. Degree.

5. Thesis Defense

When students have completed their theses, they are asked to present and defend them before their doctoral committees.