Physics Home
A student adjusts the scanning tunneling microscope. 
Photograph: John E. Consoli
 

Maryland's Ranking

   The Physics Department's ranking and the reputation of its faculty are the best indication of the caliber of the program at Maryland:
  • According to the latest listing from US News and World Report, Maryland's Physics program is ranked 5th among all US public Universities, 14th among all Physics programs in the US,  and 1st in the research area of Chaos and Non-linear Dynamics.
  • According to the latest (1995) study by the National Research Council (NRC) the top eight doctoral programs in physics on the East Coast are Harvard, Princeton, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cornell, Columbia, Yale, the University of Pennsylvania, and Maryland.  Maryland has the top physics department at a public university on the East Coast, is ranked 8th among physics programs at public Universities and is 18th among all universities.
  • The Department has one Nobel Prize winner, Professor William D. Phillips.
  • The following faculty members and adjunct professors are members of the prestigious National Academy of Sciences:
      • Michael Fisher
      George Gloecker
      Roald Z. Sagdeev
      Richard E. Webb
      John C. Mather (NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center)
      William D. Phillips
  • Many other Physics Department faculty have won awards and been widely recognized for their excellence in research and teaching.

 

Breadth and Depth of Research

     Another way to assess the strength of the Department is by noting the breadth and depth of the research being conducted by our faculty.
  • Research areas include astrometrology, atomic physics, chaos and non-linear dynamics, condensed matter physics,  cosmic ray physics, elementary particles, gravitation, high energy physics, particle astrophysics, physics education, plasma physics, nuclear physics, quantum electronics, quantum computation, superconductivity, space physics, surface science, materials science, charged particle beams, dynamical systems and accelerator theory, and theoretical and experimental surface physics.
  • The Department is proud of the fact that many of our undergraduate physics majors take part in this research, working alongside graduate students, postdocs and professors.
Professor Daniel Fivel with his Theoretical Dynamics class in the AT&T Lecture Theater. 
Photograph: John E. Consoli

Student-Faculty Ratio

  • The department presently has a student to faculty ratio of just over 2-to-1, ensuring that each student receives the individual assistance she or he needs for a first rate education in physics.
  • The department maintains a separate sequence of courses for its physics majors, which allows us to keep the class sizes small. Typically, we have about 40 students in introductory lectures, 10-12 in laboratory classes, and 20-30 students in upper level classes. By keeping the class sizes small, students can get to know one another more quickly and more easily form lasting friendships.
  • All physics majors receive close student advising.  A faculty advisor is assigned to each physics major and a joint meeting is arranged each semester between the student, the coordinator for educational affairs, and the faculty adviser.  Each faculty member advises only three of four students.
  • All classes for physics majors are taught by physics faculty members.
  • The Physics program allows students the possibility of pursuing double majors and about 1/4 of our students take advantage of this opportunity to broaden their background in mathematics, astronomy, or other areas.

    Location

        Students at Maryland have unparalleled opportunities because of the campus's location. Undergraduates are close to job opportunities in the Washington metro area, and the Northern Virginia high tech centers. Students also can pursue research or career opportunities at many nearby research facilities, including...
      Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
      Laboratory for Physical Sciences
      NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center
      National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg
      National Institute of Health
      Naval Research Laboratory
      Naval Surface Warfare Center
      Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, Newport News, VA
      U.S. Naval Observatory
    In addition, our faculty have connections to laboratories throughout the country, including:
      Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Batavia, IL
      Los Alamos National Laboratory
      NASA Infrared Telescope Facility, Hawaii
      Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, Stanford, CA
    and throughout the world...
      Deutsches Elektronen Synchrotron Anlage (DESY), Hamburg, Germany
      European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN), Switzerland
      European Southern Observatory, Garching, Germany
      European Southern Observatory, La Silla, Paranal and Santiago, Chile
      Institute for Scientific and Industrial Research, Osaka University, Japan
      Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics, Garching, Germany
      Nuclear Research Establishment, Jülich, Germany
      Paul Scherrer Institute, Villigen, Switzerland
      Super-Kamiokande Neutrino Observatory, Toyama, Japan
      Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan
      Weizmann Institute, Israel
  • In addition, located within a mile of the campus is the American Center for Physics (http://www.acp.org), which houses the American Institute of Physics and three of its 13 member organizations dealing with various areas of physics: the American Association of Physics Teachers, the American Association of Physicists in Medicine, and the American Physical Society.
  • For students who need a break from a hard week of studying, downtown Washington D.C. is just a Metro ride away, with its wealth of museums, monuments, history, politics and culture.

Academically Talented Students

  •  Yet another way to measure the strength of the Physics program at Maryland is to note that our Physics students are very academically talented.
  • About 1/4 of our students pursue double majors, most often in Mathematics or Astronomy, although there have been many other choices.
  • At least 1/4 of our students engage in independent research during there studies.
  • For the last two years, more than 40% of our students have received some type of merit based scholarship.
  • The average SAT score for our incoming majors has been consistently more than 100 points higher than that of the typical student at the University of Maryland.

Good Value

  • While the physics program at Maryland is highly ranked,  and comparable with those at many Ivy League schools, the cost of the program is just what you would expect at a public university.
  • Students aiming for graduate study gain access to fellowships and assistantships at a top private university. 
Professor Sarah Eno (center) and coordinator Ruth Zerwitz (right) advise a student on his courses. 
Photograph: John E. Consoli
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Physics Department, University of Maryland,College Park, MD 20742-4111
Phone: 301.405.3401 Fax: 301.314.9525
Copyright © 2003 University of Maryland