About the Physics Graduate Course of Study
All incoming graduate students, unless exempted by examination, are required to take two semesters each of quantum mechanics and electricity and magnetism (at the Sakurai and Jackson level). Successful completion of these courses, along with an oral exam on general introductory level physics, constitute the first half of the Ph.D. qualifying examination. A first-year tutorial course is offered to help students fill in gaps that might have occurred in their undergraduate education and to prepare them for the qualifying oral exam and for future research. Students also make and hear presentations on various research opportunities, as well as solving physics problems at the blackboard.
In addition to the core courses, students typically take one or two courses in the areas of solid state physics, experimental physics, particle physics, etc. The experimental physics course (Physics 169) is a required laboratory course for students who will do their dissertation in an experimental research field. This course is also strongly recommended for those students who wish to keep experimental research open as an option in spite of an initial preference for theoretical research.
All course information, syllabi and textbook lists (both graduate and undergraduate) are all listed together here.
First Year Summer Research Program
Following the first two semesters of courses, students can choose to participate in summer research while supported by the department. The choice is made from the many active research programs in the department. This summer research opportunity enables students to explore areas of possible dissertation research without committing themselves to a particular field.
In the second year students generally take a maximum of two courses while preparing for the advanced exam, the second half of the Ph.D. qualifying process. The advanced exam consists of incorporating general physics with a specialized topic in an area of doctoral research selected by the student in the fall of the second year, or in many cases, in the preceding Summer Research Program. Thus, by the end of the second year most students will have become actively involved in research relevant to their Ph.D. dissertation topic. The remainder of the graduate program consists of completing the dissertation research and taking elective lecture and seminar courses.
Interdisciplinary Dissertation Research at Brandeis
It is common for incoming graduate students not to have a firm idea of their future choice of dissertation research topics from the several “traditional” research fields covered by the department. The flexibility of choice in our program not only includes these fields, but also topics connected to biology, chemistry, neuroscience, and computer science, to name a few. An increasing percentage of our physics faculty is carrying out research in these areas, particularly in collaboration with other Brandeis faculty members in life science related fields. Our department prides itself on the diverse opportunities it has offered students for dissertation research under the direction of its faculty members, and in collaboration with faculty members from other departments.
Brandeis, as a research university in the sciences, carries out research not only within its academic science departments, but in the on-campus Rosenstiel Basic Medical Sciences Research Center and the Volen National Center for Complex Systems, two centers with international reputations. Although there is a completely separate biophysics graduate program at Brandeis, students accepted into the physics graduate program are sometimes found completing their dissertation research in the Rosenstiel and Volen Centers on topics in biophysics. The combined total full-time faculty members in the physics and biophysics fields is over 46. Thus when the interdisciplinary opportunities are taken into account, Brandeis offers physics students the equivalent of a large university, with regard to a large choice in research topics, and at the same time preserves the intimacy of a small college.
Quantitative Biology Program at Brandeis
The Interdepartmental Program in Quantitative Biology (QB) at Brandeis University is a new graduate program at Brandeis University, starting in the 2006-07 academic year.
The goal of the program is to prepare the next generation of scientists working at the interface of the physical and biomedical sciences. Ph.D. students in the QB program are trained to apply quantitative experimental techniques, physical models, and mathematical analysis to important problems in biomedical research. Students are given a rigorous background in their chosen scientific discipline and at the same time are trained to work effectively as members of the cross-disciplinary teams that are essential to emerging modalities of scientific investigation.
Only students currently enrolled in one of the six participating Ph.D. programs, including physics, are elegible to join the QB program. Therefore to enter the QB program, you must first be accepted to the physics Ph.D. program. Ordinarily, students apply for admission to QB during their first or second year of graduate school. If you are interested in the QB program, you should discuss your interest as early as possible with the Physics liason to QB (Prof.Kondev).