Applied Physics Degree Requirements

The formal requirements for a PhD in Applied Physics are:

  1. The nine courses listed under Courses
  2. Oral qualifying exam: At the end of the spring quarter, each student must appear before the exam committee for one hour.  Students will have two opportunities to pass this test.  More information below:

     

    THE APPLIED PHYSICS QUALIFYING EXAM

     

    Graduate students in the Applied Physics program are required to pass a qualifying exam before advancing to the second year of the program.  This exam takes the form of a short presentation made to an examining committee, followed by a closed question session before the committee. There is no written qualifier.

     

    Examining committee:  One member of the Applied Physics qualifying exam committee will be assigned to serve as chair of each student’s 3-person examining committee.  The other members will be the student’s research advisor and one other Applied Physics faculty member.

     

    Format: The student must make a presentation not exceeding 15 minutes, on a topic that is not the same as his/her intended thesis topic but may be complementary to it.  (Recall that the intended thesis topic must be discussed at the thesis proposal defense, which is a separate requirement.) The student should select recent (e.g., within the past five years) results from at least two research groups outside of Northwestern University, ideally with contrasting perspectives. The talk should describe these results and provide a critical perspective on the relative merits and prospects for these different results. The talk must be original; slides prepared by others may not be used.

     

    For example, a student might discuss

    • an experimental paper from one group reporting effects which are only partially explained by a theoretical paper from a different group (the talk should explain the similarities and differences and how these differences might arise).
    • results from (e.g.) electron microscopy and fluorescence light microscopy on the same system, or x-ray scattering and neutron scattering studies of the same system (the talk should explain which techniques can be trusted to reveal which experimental aspects, and which effects might be spurious).

     The talk will be followed by a closed questioning session that may be about the presentation or about other relevant topics that explore the student’s knowledge and readiness for research.

     

    Schedule: The date of the exam will be determined by the committee members, but it must take place during the spring quarter of the first year. The talk title as well as bibliography of scientific papers discussed in the talk are due to the committee 4 weeks prior to the date of the exam. If the student fails the exam, a second exam must be scheduled during the immediately following summer quarter. A student who does not pass by the end of the first academic year may not continue in the Applied Physics program.

  3. Teaching experience: One quarter of teaching experience is required by the graduate school. Since AP is a graduate-only program, our students gain this experience by serving as TAs in a variety of undergraduate departments.
  4. Research proposal: Students must defend their thesis research proposal in front of a faculty committee before the end of their third year
  5. Thesis defense: Students must defend their final thesis in front of a faculty committee.

 

The Graduate School links:

Faculty Collaboration

The Applied Physics Graduate Program is a hub for strong collaborations between faculty in our Physics & Astronomy, Molecular Biosciences, Chemistry, Earth & Planetary Sciences, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, and Materials Science & Engineering departments.

 

January 23, 2012