• MS Degree Requirements
• PhD Degree Requirements
• Curriculum

The graduate program in Physics and Astronomy is aimed at preparing students for careers in research, teaching, or industry. Students first acquire a strong theoretical background in quantum mechanics, statistical physics, electrodynamics, and classical mechanics. They then engage in thesis research. The department's research is focused primarily upon astrophysics, condensed-matter physics, nonlinear phenomena, and particle and nuclear physics. Theoretical research in many fields is carried out with the aid of parallel supercomputers on campus and at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications in Champaign, Illinois.

On-campus facilities for experimental condensed-matter research include NMR spectrometers; dilution refrigerators capable of reaching millikelvin temperatures; ultraclean rooms and nanoscale fabrication facilities; equipment for the growth and characterization of novel "hard" and "soft" materials; femtosecond tunable lasers and streak cameras; and a range of scanning probes including scanning-tunneling and atomic force microscopes. Faculty members also use the shared facilities of Northwestern's Materials Research Center and facilities at national laboratories such as the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory in Argonne, Illinois; the National Synchrotron Light Source at Brookhaven, New York; and the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Tallahassee, Florida.

Our experimental particle and nuclear physics faculty conduct research at major facilities around the world, including Argonne National Laboratory (ATLAS Accelerator) in Argonne, Illinois; Brookhaven National Laboratory (Experiment E852) in Brookhaven, New York; the European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland; the Cornell Synchrotron (CLEO Collaboration) in Ithaca, New York; Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) in Batavia, Illinois; and Thomas Jefferson National Laboratory (Hall A) in Newport News, Virginia.

Our astronomy faculty use ground-based observational facilities such as the Very Large Array in Socorro, New Mexico; the optical telescopes at Kitt Peak, Arizona; the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory at Mauna Kea, Hawaii; the Laser-Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) in Hanford, Washington, and Livingston, Louisiana; and the South Pole Viper Telescope in Antarctica, as well as space-based telescopes such as the Hubble Space Telescope, the Far-Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer, the Chandra X-ray Observatory, and the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer.

Applicants should contact the program or see Web site www.physics.northwestern.edu to learn about program-specific requirements for admission.

Faculty

The primary appointment for those faculty with joint or affiliate status in another program is noted in parentheses.