Physicists explore the nature of the physical world and search for improved descriptions and understandings of the structure, laws, origin, and ultimate fate of the universe. Broad in scope, highly diverse, and yet always attendant to the most fundamental aspects of the physical world, physics spans vast ranges in space, time, energy, and other dimensions of nature. Physics encompasses two mutually supporting perspectives: theoretical and experimental, and physics students at Lawrence engage actively in both areas. Theoretical physics involves the invention and exploration of models and theories of nature, while experimental physics entails empirical investigation of physical systems and provides evaluation and refinement of theory. Increasingly, computation plays a substantial and crucial supporting role in both arenas.

While course work is an important component of the Lawrence physics major, the physics program encourages extensive involvement beyond the curriculum. Majors participate in independent studies, pursue research objectives, and serve as assistants in introductory laboratories. They are issued keys to various student spaces within the department to encourage collaborative intellectual engagements.

Twice weekly, departmental teas attended by students and faculty provide a context for discussion of various topics of current interest. Evening and weekend interactions are frequent and lively.

The size of the department is attractive in several respects. Typically, there are 10--12 senior majors, a similar number of junior majors, and perhaps 15--18 sophomores seriously considering a major. (About 20% of these majors are women.) Introductory courses typically draw 35--45 students, with weekly laboratory sections having 16 students. Enrollment in annually offered intermediate and advanced courses is usually 10--15. Each year, we graduate 10--12 majors and one or two minors.

Curriculum

The physics curriculum at Lawrence focuses on developing a firm understanding of important theories and competence in the application of contemporary experimental techniques. On the theoretical side, majors move from a general survey to more detailed intermediate courses to advanced electives, mixing the study of traditional approaches with the examination of computational approaches to significant problems. On the experimental side, majors learn the basic techniques of data analysis (traditional as well as computer-based), study electronics in an intermediate laboratory, and enroll in a project and research-oriented advanced laboratory. Together, these studies often lead to senior-level theoretical and experimental independent research projects. Details of the typical course program will be found in the Lawrence course catalog.

Typically, physics majors take a two-term introductory sequence in their freshman year and complete the calculus sequence. During the sophomore and junior years, students take a number of intermediate courses in a variety of areas and elect additional courses in specific areas of interest.

The Senior Capstone program is designed to engage seniors in ambitious undertakings custom-tailored to their interests, needs, and career plans. Recent project topics include: non-sequential ionization, equilibrium and stability in a toroidal non-neutral plasma, saturated absorption laser spectroscopy, LEGO robots controlled by on-board microcomputers, sonoluminexcence, coherent population trapping, and x-ray analysis of phase transitions in liquid crystals.

Interdisciplinary Areas

The interdisciplinary major in the natural sciences enables students to construct science majors around subject areas that bridge two or more disciplines in the natural sciences. An interdisciplinary major in the natural sciences requires a primary concentration in biology, chemistry, geology, or physics and a secondary concentration in another of these sciences.

Students interested in majoring in a antural science with a primary focus in physics are required to complete the two-term introductory sequence in physics and two-term introductory sequences in two other sciences. Additionally they take ten intermediate and advanced courses in the sciences, at least five of them in physics and at least three in the secondary emphasis.

Special Opportunities

Collaborative research, in which undergraduates work side-by-side with faculty members, is a special emphasis of the Lawrence physics program. A Departmental Development Grant---one of only a few such grants made by Research Corporation---supported a recent five-year effort to increase further our commitment to faculty and faculty/student research in connection with the Senior Capstone program. Capstone projects can lead to honors in independent study at graduation, to papers presented by students at national undergraduate research symposia and professional meetings, and to student/faculty publications in professional physics journals. In addition, the department typically offers four or five ten-week summer opportunities for students to engage full time in a research project with a faculty member.

One of the particular strengths of the Lawrence curriculum is its flexibility. Because the Lawrence programs in physics, chemistry, mathematics, computer science, and pre-engineering have so much in common at the introductory level, the freshman who is undecided among these areas can keep all options open, at least for a year or so, and may even decide on Lawrence's interdisciplinary major in the sciences or propose a student-designed major embodying courses and other scholarly activities in several sciences. With careful planning, physics majors at Lawrence can spend a term at one of the off-campus programs (London Center, other foreign study centers, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, etc.) without jeopardizing timely completion of a strong major, even if the chosen off-campus program is not science related.

Facilities

As a result of a long-standing departmental commitment to providing exceptional facilities and with the help of several outside grants, Lawrence physics majors enjoy access to outstanding experimental and computational resources. Among the facilities are:

• An introductory laboratory equipped with microcomputers and a variety of transducers to facilitate data gathering, analysis, and display.

• An advanced laboratory equipped with modern instrumentation to permit performance of numerous landmark experiments.

• The Lawrence Laser Palace, equipped with hundreds of lasers and supporting both course work and independent research in laser physics, atomic physics, and modern optics.

• The Lawrence Computational Physics Laboratory, equipped with eight Silicon Graphics workstations that support both course work and theoretical independent research in computational physics, nonlinear dynamics, and chaos.

• The Lawrence Surface Physics Laboratory, equipped with a Siemens x-ray diffractometer, four scanning tunneling microscopes, and two atomic force microscopes for studying the structure and properties of matter, all in support of course work and independent research in materials science, condcensed matter physics, and liquid crystal physics.

• Versatile and competently staffed machine and electronics shops for on-site construction of specialized apparatus.

After Lawrence

With the appropriate selection of courses and other activities, physics majors are well-prepared for graduate work in various scientific and non-scientific fields, entrance into law and medical schools, secondary teaching, or immediate employment in many sectors of modern business and industry.

Typically, more than half of our graduates go on directly to a graduate program in physics or to studies of engineering at such places as Harvard, Stanford, Oxford, Columbia, Dartmouth. Rensselaer, Washington University, Purdue, Colorado State, and the Universities of Wisconsin (Madison), Minnesota, California (Berkeley, San Diego), Oregon, Colorado, Washington, and New York (Stony Brook). There are Lawrence graduates on the faculties at Beloit Collete, Carleton College, the University of Wisconsin (Madison), Kenyon College, Colorado School of Mines, and Widener College. Others have pursued careers in various industries, secondary school teaching, biomedicine, law, and computer science. Because the training of an undergraduate physics major is broad and flexible and focuses not only on building knowledge of physics but also on developing the skills to continue learning, to think critically, to analyze accurately, and to communicate well in English, the physics major is admirably poised to take full advantage of whatever opportunities life after Lawrence presents.

The following paragraphs provide vignettes of recent graduates of the physics program at Lawrence:

• Matthew Stackpole, '05, spent the summer after his sophomore year working as a research assistant at Lawrence, the summer after his junior year as an intern with the National Security Agency, and the fall term of his senior year at the Budapest (Hungary) Mathematics Institute. He completed majors in mathematics and physics and is pursuing a Ph.D. in mathematics at the University of Colorado.

• Lauren Kost, '05, was a research assistant at Lawrence in the summer after her sophomore year and a research assistant at the University of Washington in the summer after her junior year. She is pursuing a Ph.D. in physics at the University of Colorado.

• Nicholas Mauro, '05, spent the summers after his freshman and sophomore years as a research assistant at Lawrence and the summer after his junior year as a research assistant at UCLA. With interests in alternate energy sources, he is pursuing a degree in engineering at Washington University.

• Steven Hahn, '05, spent the summer after his sophomore year in an REU program at Coe College and the summer after his junior year in a similar program at Northwestern University. He is pursuing a Ph.D. in condensed matter physics at Iowa State University.

• Paul Schonfeld, '05, who pursued the interdisciplinary major in the natural sciences with primary discipline physics and secondary discipline geology, spent summers as a research assistant at the University of Alaska and Michigan Technological University and also did research in Costa Rica. He is working as programs coordinator at a public access community service television station in Madison, WI.

• Matthew Dietrich, '04, spent the summer after his junior year as a research assistant at Baylor University and is pursuing a Ph.D. in physics at the University of Washington.

• Michelle Milne, '04, is pursuing a Ph.D. in physics at Washington University. In the summers after her sophomore and junior years, she served as a research assistant at Lawrence and presented her work of the second summer at a national meeting.

• Suzanne T. Witt, '03, who also completed a music major, is pursuing a Ph.D. in medical physics at the University of Wisconsin (Madison). She spendtseveral summers in research appointments at various laboratories, including the Mayo Clinic, and she presented a poster on her work at a major national meeting during her senior year.

• Robin Sampson, '02, completed an M.S. degree in applied physics at Cornell University. She participated in the plasma physics research program for two summers at Lawrence, and she presented a poster at a major plasma physics meeting in San Diego during her senior year.

• Cindy Regal, '01, pursued various research interests, co-authored research articles, and received Luce, Goldwater, and Hertz fellowships. She is pursuing a Ph.D. in atomic physics at the University of Colorado (Boulder).

• Paul Kondratko, '00, co-authored a research publication on phase transitions in liquid crystals, and delivered talks at two professional meetings. He is a Ph.D. candidate in astronomy at Harvard University in the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

• Erik Brubaker, '99, spent the summer before his senior year in a research appointment at CERN. He completed his Ph.D. at the University of California (Berkeley), doing his thesis work at FermiLab. He is currently in a postdoctoral position at the University of Chicago.

• Scot Shaw, '98, recently completed his Ph.D at Harvard with support from a National Science Foundation Fellowship. He was a Rhodes candidate, spent the summer before his senior year as a research assistant at Oxford, and returned to Lawrence to continue his study of non-sequential ionization. He is now a staff scientist at MIT's Lincoln Laboratory.

• Todd Thompson, '97, recently completed his Ph.D, at the University of Arizona. While at Lawrence, Todd carried out an independent project in sonoluminescence, completed both physics and philosophy majors, and was a prominent member of the swim team. Todd now holds a Hubble Postdoctoral Fellowship at Berkeley.

• Michael Stenner, '97, has completed his Ph.D. in physics at Duke University and now holds a post-doctoral research appointment at the University of Arizona. While at Lawrence, he did summer research for two years with Lawrence faculty members.

• Christopher Schmidt, '97, spent a summer as a research assistant at Lawrence, a second summer as a research assistant at Northwestern University, and has a Masters degree in Atmospheric Science from the University of Wisconsin (Madison). His research with satellite data includes real-time fire and ozone detection and is applied by NOAA and other United States government entities.

• David Robertson, '96, spent a summer as a research assistant at Lawrence, presented a paper on that work at the Argonne Undergraduate Research Symposium, and carried out an extensive senior independent study in atomic physics. When he left Lawrence, he matriculated in a Ph.D. program in physics at Stanford University.

• Tyler Van Buren, '96, participated in Lawrence's 3-2 engineering program, not by attending one of our affiliated schools but instead by arranging his own transfer to a school with which we are not affiliated formally. Tyler received both a B.A. in physics from Lawrence and a bachelor's degree in engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

• Brian Schmalz, '96, while an undergraduate physics major, pursued a succession of projects in robotics and computer science (computer-controlled CD changer, environment sensing robots made from LEGOs, one-wheeled LEGO robot with a gyroscope to help it maintain balance). Upon leaving Lawrence, Brian entered a graduate program in computer science at the University of Minnesota.

• Carolyn Joslyn, '96, double-majored in physics and studio art, with special interests in photography.

• Alejandro Orzekowski, '96, double-majored in physics and computer science, spent a summer as a research assistant at Lawrence, and received his degree magna com laude in independent study for his senior project in which he created a computer program to simplify the fitting of heat-capacity data to the expected theoretical relationships. Alex went from Lawrence to a graduate program in computer science at the University of Minnesota.

• Christopher Van Hoof, '96, double-majored in physics and philosophy at Lawrence. Chris followed the 4-2 route to training for a career in engineering, matriculating in the fall of 1996 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is now working for General Motors.

• Kelly Senecal, '95, spent a summer as a research assistant at Lawrence and received his degree summa cum laude in independent study for a year-long theoretical and computational study in fluid mechanics. From Lawrence, he went to a Ph.D. program in mechanical engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

• Joshua Kriesel, '95, double-majored in physics and chemistry and received his degree summa cum laude in independent study for a project that started in a laboratory course, continued through a summer of research at Lawrence, and concluded with a year-long independent study in his senior year. He went from Lawrence to a Ph.D. program in chemistry at the University of California-Berkeley.

• Slobodan 'Bob' Kojcinovic, '95, spent two summers as a research assistant at Lawrence and worked independently in several tutorials during his junior and senior years. He completed a Ph.D. in applied mathematics at the University of California-San Diego and then took a faculty position at the University of Rochester

• Mark Gehrke, '94. Mark spent a summer as a research assistant at Lawrence and another summer in a research program at Notre Dame. He went from Lawrence to a Ph.D. program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

• Karl Geisler, '94, spent a summer as a research assistant at Lawrence. He went from Lawrence to a master's degree program in mechanical engineering at the University of Minnesota.

• Yoriko Morita, '94, graduated from Lawrence in our five-year program, receiving a B.A. degree in physics and a B.Mus. degree in cello performance. She spent a summer as a research assistant at Pacific Northwest Laboratories. She completed a Ph.D. in electrical engineering with an optics emphasis at the University of Colorado.

• Sandra Collins, '93, worked for a summer as a research assistant at Lawrence, worked for another summer at the IBM Research Center in Almaden, CA, and spent the fall of her senior year doing research at Argonne National Laboratory. After she received an M.S. degree in physics from the University of Oregon, she started her scientific career with a 13-month appointment on an expedition to Antarctica.

• Ann Leonard, '93, received a master's degree in physics from the University of Northern Illinois, started her career teaching physics in a secondary school in a Chicago suburb, and is now teaching physics at a high school in her home town.

• Andrew Kessler, '92, is teaching physics in a private secondary school in Connecticut. Some of his students recently competed successfully in a contest that involved designing, building, and racing a solar powered car.

• Peter Ruprecht, '92, won a Rhodes Scholarship and completed his D.Phil. in physics at Oxford University (U.K.). His undergraduate research was published in the article ``Enhancing Diode Laser Tuning with a Short External Cavity'' in Optics Communications.

• Todd Ruskell, '91, won a scholarship to support his graduate studies at the Optical Sciences Center at the University of Arizona. After receiving his Ph.D. from that school, he took a postdoctoral position supported by the National Research Council at JILA (University of Colorado, Boulder). He is now on the faculty at the Colorado School of Mines.

• Stephen Wereley, '90, participated in Lawrence's 3-2 engineering program, receiving a B.A. from Lawrence and a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Washington University. Subsequently, he completed a Ph.D. in fluid dynamics at Northwestern and joined the engineering faculty at Purdue.

Possible Careers

• Research scientist

• Academic scientist

• Industrial scientist/engineer

• Computer scientist

• Legal and medical professions

• Science teaching

• Public policy expert

• Environmental scientist

• Entrepreneurship

• Scientific writer