Department of Physics
M.S. in Physics
Dr. Douglas Singleton, Department Chair
Dr. Gerardo Munoz, Graduate Program Coordinator
- Graduate Program Objectives | Research Areas | Program Design | Our Graduate Students | Faculty | Quick Facts
Graduate Program Objectives
Our Master of Science degree program at California State University, Fresno is designed to build a firm basis for continued graduate work toward the Ph.D., industrial employment, or teaching at the secondary or junior college level. We offer a broad-based academic program with the opportunity for specialized theoretical or experimental research. Students can elect as their culminating experience one of the following options:
1) a project and a competency examination
2) a thesis and a thesis defense.
Research Areas
The Department of Physics has an active theoretical physics program that focuses on gravitational physics and field theory. We have active collaborations with several international research groups including the Institute of Applied Physics of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova, Kyrgyz-Russian Slavic University, Center for Gravitation and Fundamental Metrology (VNIIMS) at the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia, and Universidad de Costa Rica. Our students in this area regularly attend national and international conferences to give talks, and they are active in publishing their research work in refereed journals. Several international researchers have visited our department and engaged in collaborative research, colloquia, and seminars.
Four new research laboratories are also part of our current experimental efforts: the Radiation Measurements and Instrumentation Laboratory, the High Energy Physics Laboratory, the Condensed Matter Physics Laboratory, and the Astrophysics Laboratory. The High Energy Laboratory develops and constructs state-of-the-art solid-state charged particle detectors to be used in the DØ Project at Fermi National Laboratory (Fermilab). Our HEP program has joined the ATLAS experiment of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the European Organization of Nuclear Research (CERN). The LHC may come online in late 2009 and will remain the energy frontier for the next 15 years. This new direction links us to the world's center for HEP research where discoveries such as the Higgs boson, supersymmetry, extra dimensions, and several other exciting new physics scenarios may be possible. The Condensed Matter Physics Laboratory is well equipped with both teaching and student research equipment, such as a pulsed NMR spectrometer and experiments on superconductivity, temperature-dependent measurements of electrical resistivity, semiconductor band structure, thermal conductivity, thermal power, and specific heat. Two new major pieces of equipment have been added to our condensed matter physics research: an X-ray fluorescence spectrometer that is capable of sub ppm resolution and a Fourier Transform Infrared spectrometer (FTIR) that permits analysis of spectra in the mid-infrared region. We also have a tunable argon ion laser, a three-stage high temperature furnace, and fume hoods providing a sample preparation environment. This allows us to make many sensitive measurements of condensed matter properties such as resistivity, conductivity, mobility, charge concentration, activation energy, the charge sign of majority carriers, and photoconductivity. It leads us to material science technologies: the study of nanowires, nanoparticles, and bulk samples of novel semiconductors and superconductors which have great potential for technical applications such as solar cells, sensors, energy conservation, development of high-field magnets, and telecommunications. A grant from the Research Corporation enhances the Condensed Matter Physics program, which will establish a low-temperature (down to 1.6 K), high-magnetic field (up to 9 T) facility in the strongly correlated electron laboratory. The Astrophysics Laboratory is loaded with powerful computing equipment, all available to students. It is used for image processing and remote observatory operations. Undergraduate and graduate students can participate in astrophysics research. They use both ground-based telescopes and space observatories (including Hubble Space Telescope, Chandra X-ray Observatory, and other NASA spacecraft.)
We have upgraded instrumentation in our existing Radiation Laboratory and we have begun a new program of research in biomedical physics. In general, the field is subdivided into four subspecialties: nuclear medicine, diagnostic radiology (use of X-rays, MRI, ultrasound, etc.), radiation therapy (the use of radioactive materials produced by accelerators for the treatment of cancer and other diseases), and radiation biology. With the establishment of affiliations with local area medical centers, research opportunities in this field will open up for our students.
A grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIH/NIMH) has allowed us to initiate one of the first medical physics/neuroimaging undergraduate programs in the nation. Students enrolling in the BS in Biomedical Physics degree program will get a chance to intern at the end of their junior year in the finest state-of-the-art laboratories across the nation. Our department has a collaboration with the VA Medical Center, where students are provided with hands-on instruction on MR scanners and other imaging equipment. The curriculum ranges from courses in MRI/MRS, X-ray imaging, nuclear medicine, and neuroimaging to courses in radiation health physics. This program is designed to provide a solid foundation in physics, biology, and mathematics so that students can tackle the challenges of an interdisciplinary program of graduate instruction in the broad field of neurosciences. The program also aims to serve as a feeder program to graduate schools across the nation.
The Downing Planetarium, operated by the Physics Department, was completed in the spring of 2000. It has proven highly successful, with more than 200,000 visitors since opening. The planetarium features a computer controlled Minolta MS-8 star projector and a main theater with 74 reclining seats under a 30-foot dome. The facility presents multi-media shows on a daily basis. Physics students have the opportunity to participate in presenting the shows and to assist in planetarium operation.
Adjacent to the planetarium is a new campus observatory equipped with a 16-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope, CCD cameras, and an adaptive optics system. This observatory is used for classes and for student research projects. A second observatory with a more advanced 16-inch telescope is operational at a dark site in the Sierra Nevada mountains. This telescope is remotely controlled from campus, and enables students to download images from it over the Internet. The observatory is capable of functioning as a totally autonomous robot, carrying out a student's program of observations, and closing itself down at the onset of bad weather.
Program Design
Under the direction of the graduate coordinator, a coherent program, directed toward the student's goal in graduate study and designed within a specified framework, is prepared and submitted to the department. There is a standard core of classical mechanics, classical electrodynamics, and quantum mechanics, which is strongly recommended for students planning to pursue further graduate study and, at least in part, for all students. Other courses, both from within and from outside the department, can be used to complete the program. Every student is required to complete an independent study project or a thesis. The 30-unit program has been designed by the department for completion in a two-year time frame.
Our Graduate Students
We currently have sixteen active graduate students in various stages of their programs. Our recent graduates are doing very well in their Ph.D. studies and other careers. Of our graduates, within the last decade fourteen entered Ph.D. programs at such universities as UC Davis, Caltech, Alabama, Nevada, Ohio State, Washington, Texas, Purdue, Florida, Utah and M.D. Anderson (Medical Physics). Seventeen are in industry and four are teaching in junior college. We generally support six or seven students with full-time graduate teaching assistantships.