2011-2012 University Catalog 
  
2011-2012 University Catalog

Physics, PhD


Banner Code:  SC-PHD-PHYS

All doctoral students accepted into the physics PhD program take a common core of four courses (see below). By working with the Dissertation Committee, a student may choose to specialize in an emphasis area such as astrophysics, biophysics, nonlinear physics, planetary sciences, material physics, space weather physics, or others according to his or her particular interests. By the end of their first year, all students should pair with a faculty advisor who will guide them toward doctoral candidacy.

This program of study is offered by the School of Physics, Astronomy, and Computational Sciences in the College of Science.

Admission Requirements

Those holding a baccalaureate degree in physics or astronomy from an accredited institution, who earned a GPA of 3.00 (out of 4.00) in their last 60 credits, and received acceptable scores on the GRE-GEN are invited to apply for admission. Three letters of recommendation must be submitted, preferably from former professors. The GRE subject test in physics is recommended for all interested applicants who received their baccalaureate degrees within the past five years. A degree-seeking graduate applicant with a baccalaureate degree who has not met all admission requirements may be offered provisional admission if sufficient evidence is presented to suggest the applicant has the ability to pursue graduate work. For more details concerning admission requirements to George Mason University, please refer to the Graduate Admission Policies and Admission of International Students sections of this catalog.

Degree Requirements


Students must satisfy all requirements for doctoral degrees expressed in the Academic Policies  section of this catalog.

All students in the physics PhD program must earn a minimum of 72 graduate credits. Of these, 48 are required course work and preliminary research credits, and 24 are doctoral dissertation proposal and doctoral dissertation research credits. For students entering the doctoral program with a master’s degree in physics or a related field, or relevant graduate course work, the 48 credit requirement may be reduced by a maximum of 30 credits.

Physics Core (12 credits):


Note: the doctoral candidacy (qualifying) examination is based on the topics covered in these four core courses.

Specialty Science Courses (6 credits):


 6 credits of approved physics or astronomy specialty courses.

General Science Electives (27 credits):


27 credits of approved general electives, which may be chosen from physics and astronomy, or other related disciplines.

Seminar (3 credits):


taken 3 times:

Qualifying Examination


The qualifying examination is offered once per year and is divided into four sections corresponding to the four topics in the core courses (Quantum Mechanics, Electromagnetic Theory, Classical Mechanics, and Statistical Mechanics). All students must successfully pass all four sections of the qualifying examination before the end of their third year. Grades of “Pass” or “Unsatisfactory” will be given individually for the four separate sections of the exam. If students receive a grade of “Unsatisfactory” in a given section of the exam, they will be allowed to retake that section a maximum of two times. Students can choose to take a particular section or a combination of sections at one sitting, but they must successfully pass all sections by the end of their third year.

Students entering the program with equivalent courses taken at another institution can satisfy the core requirement by taking the qualifying exam directly. Each section of the qualifying exam has written and oral components. The student must satisfactorily pass both components of the exam. The oral component may be waived by unanimous consent of the Qualifying Examination Committee based on exceptional performance on the written component. At the beginning of each academic year, the program director will appoint members to the Qualifying Examination Committee, and this committee is responsible for creating and grading the qualifying exam offered that year.

Advancement to Candidacy


Advancement to doctoral candidacy implies that the student has demonstrated adequate breadth and depth of knowledge in the field of study and is capable of conducting research on the boundaries of knowledge. After the successful completion of the qualifying examinations, a Dissertation Committee should be formed as soon as possible. This committee consists of a graduate faculty member from the Department of Physics and Astronomy and at least two other members of the graduate faculty, one of whom must be from outside the Department. The composition of the committee must be approved by the program director. The Dissertation Committee is responsible for directing the student in their chosen field of research. The student should work closely with their committee to select specialty courses and electives that form a cohesive program of study. Before a student may be advanced to doctoral candidacy, they need to complete all required course work, pass the qualifying examination, and been recommended by their committee.

Research (24 credits):


Note: no more than 24 combined credits from PHYS/ASTR 998 and PHYS/ASTR 999 may be applied toward satisfying doctoral degree requirements, with no more than 12 credits of PHYS/ASTR 998.

Doctoral Dissertation


After advancing to doctoral candidacy, the student works with their Dissertation Committee to develop their preliminary research into a doctoral dissertation. The dissertation research should represent a significant contribution to its scientific field and should be deemed publishable in a refereed scientific journal. The dissertation must be defended in a public forum before the Dissertation Committee and other interested faculty.

Total: 72 credits