RU Physics at a Glance

The Physics Section of the Department of Chemistry and Physics coordinates the Physics major with its two tracks: The traditional "Physics" major and the "Physics Major--Physical Science Concentration."

Students with the traditional Physics major are typically interested in careers in academia or high-tech industry. Most of our physics graduates have continued their education in graduate school with their goals ranging from pure academic research to various types of engineering. Students use the various physics electives we offer to fit their Radford degree to their future plans.

Students opting for the Physical Science Concentration of the Physics major are often interested in becoming high school physical science teachers. However, others have used the flexibility of this degree to pursue more technical careers. Some of our students enrolled in our 3:2 Cooperative Engineerging Agreement with Virginia Tech will find the flexibility in this concentration to better prepare for the applied physics they will find in their engineering curriculum. Other goals range from careers involving meteorology to working towards a career with NASA and NOAA. Students use the elective courses we offer to tailor their Physical Science concentration to fit these various career goals.

Many of our majors have participated in summer research internships at various academic and government institutions. These internships have ranged from elementary particle physics, low-temperature (microkelvin) physics, radio astronomy and astrophysics, satellite image processing, biophysics, science education studies, medical physics, meteorology studies and others. The locations of these internships have ranged from the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Cornell University, NOAA (World Weather Center), Wake Forest, UNLV, NIST (Gaithersburg, MD), the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (Green Bank as well as Charlottesville) and others. Our students have used these internships to further their undergraduate experiences, solidify their career goals, and to distinguish themselves through these very prestigious positions. The Physics faculty will work with interested students to determine which of these experiences best fit into their career plans.

The Physics faculty offer various Independent Study or Undergraduate Research opportunities to interested students. In these courses, student work one-on-one with a faculty member to delve deeper into a subject than our normal course offerings. Students are able to use the equipment and resources available in the Department in intensive study--designed in concert with a faculty member--for course credit. For more information about such opportunities, please contact one of our Physics faculty members.