What Does One "Do" With an Undergraduate Physics Degree?
Stuart Nachbar
August 10, 2009
I live in the Princeton (NJ) area, home not only to Princeton University, but also many science and technology companies and privately sponsored research laboratories. Albert Einstein did much of his thinking here, as did John Forbes Nash, the Nobel Laureate played by Russell Crowe in the movie A Beautiful Mind.
Even our representative in Congress, Rush Holt is a scientist. He earned his undergraduate degree in physics from Carleton College (MN) and his masters and doctorate from NYU. Rep. Holt is one of the leading advocates for increased funding for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education in the House.
It's hard to be opposed to increased funding for STEM subjects; it adds to the intellectual capital of the nation, education, and commerce. Whether at war or at peace, a nation's future is driven by its intellectual capital. However, there is another concern; an over-emphasis on STEM subjects could lead to less interest in a liberal arts undergraduate education and more towards career-focused subjects such as computer science and engineering.
Liberal arts colleges counter by offering undergraduate degrees in biology, chemistry and physics, as well as combinations of these disciplines. However it is less clear what graduates "do" with degrees in these subjects. To me, this was especially true of physics. Introductory courses in physics are required for engineering, nursing and pre-med students, among others, but few continue onto physics degrees. Curious, I asked a physicist.
David Saltzberg, PhD. is Professor of Physics and Astronomy at UCLA. He received his Bachelor's degree in Physics from Princeton and his doctorate from the University of Chicago. David has partially shifted his research towards neutrino astronomy, using radio detection techniques. He recently completed a scientific balloon mission looking for the electromagnetic pulses from neutrino interactions in the Antarctic Ice. He is also Science Consultant for the television sit-com: The Big Bang Theory.
While David is a scientist, he also has an undergraduate liberal arts education which made him the right person to ask: what does one "do" with a physics degree? He has not only taught many students, but has friends who chose less traditional pursuits. And he advises future educators at a leading university.
Why should college students consider majoring in physics?
I think there is only one reason to major in physics, and that is because you really like it. I majored in physics because I always liked my classes and wanted to learn more. Along the way, you meet some really smart people who also love physics in relatively small classes. You work together in labs and generally spend a lot of time together. It is a great way to go through college.
What have your former college classmates and students done (besides doctoral study) after earning their undergraduate degrees in physics?
It is all over the map. Various types of engineering are all possible. I even have one friend that designs robots. Others have gone into science journalism. Another friend with a physics major joined the Air Force and flies planes.
How has undergraduate instruction in physics changed since you were a student? (for example, new courses, new technology)
Amazingly little has changed about how we teach in physics to the physics majors. Unlike biology, I could teach first year physics out of a book that is nearly 100 years old and the curriculum would be almost the same. The books now are thicker and full of color photographs about careers in physics, but the main content is the same once you dig it out.
There is a move afoot now to teach non-physics majors in a more interactive way than the lecture format. Electronic devices called "clickers" allow students to answer multiple choice questions in real time so the professor can spend more or less time on the topic.
When budgets allow, smaller classes that focus on problem solving are formed which are terrific if a university can afford to do that. For while there was a attempt to formalize how students learned from their peers by forcing them to work on short questions together in class.
I've read that physics majors often double-major in subjects such as math, computer science and education. Is this still the case?
We have people double-majoring or taking a minor. Since you don't need this to graduate it is largely just a bureaucratic hurdle. The relevant thing is that you took the extra courses and have the interest. Our own university merged together curricula from the biology and physics department to form a biophysics major which has been popular among the students. The idea is that these learn both real biology and real physics. But for every course a student takes, that represents another course they do not take to graduate. So while the double major may add depth in math and physics, it probably comes at the expense of breadth of exposure to other topics.
Do you believe that increased public spending in STEM subjects (science,technology, engineering and math) will encourage more students to major in physics, or are they more likely to major in other subjects?
I don't know. It probably could not hurt.
Do you believe that the demand for doctorates in physics in the U.S. will increase, decrease or remain about the same over the next ten years?
What I do know is that universities have been cutting back their admissions to physics graduate school because of budget cuts. That will reduce the number of physics Ph.D.'s in about five years.
For example, The Department of Education did not renew our GAANN fellowship program which encouraged traditionally underrepresented groups to attend graduate school and will directly reduce our number of students.
It seems counter-productive to be cutting back on graduate programs when we are trying to stimulate the economy. A graduate student spends nearly every dollar they earn; while in school they do not take a job from someone else; and when they graduate they are often part of the cutting edge workforce that creates new fields and jobs.
Even our representative in Congress, Rush Holt is a scientist. He earned his undergraduate degree in physics from Carleton College (MN) and his masters and doctorate from NYU. Rep. Holt is one of the leading advocates for increased funding for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education in the House.
It's hard to be opposed to increased funding for STEM subjects; it adds to the intellectual capital of the nation, education, and commerce. Whether at war or at peace, a nation's future is driven by its intellectual capital. However, there is another concern; an over-emphasis on STEM subjects could lead to less interest in a liberal arts undergraduate education and more towards career-focused subjects such as computer science and engineering.
Liberal arts colleges counter by offering undergraduate degrees in biology, chemistry and physics, as well as combinations of these disciplines. However it is less clear what graduates "do" with degrees in these subjects. To me, this was especially true of physics. Introductory courses in physics are required for engineering, nursing and pre-med students, among others, but few continue onto physics degrees. Curious, I asked a physicist.
David Saltzberg, PhD. is Professor of Physics and Astronomy at UCLA. He received his Bachelor's degree in Physics from Princeton and his doctorate from the University of Chicago. David has partially shifted his research towards neutrino astronomy, using radio detection techniques. He recently completed a scientific balloon mission looking for the electromagnetic pulses from neutrino interactions in the Antarctic Ice. He is also Science Consultant for the television sit-com: The Big Bang Theory.
While David is a scientist, he also has an undergraduate liberal arts education which made him the right person to ask: what does one "do" with a physics degree? He has not only taught many students, but has friends who chose less traditional pursuits. And he advises future educators at a leading university.
Why should college students consider majoring in physics?
I think there is only one reason to major in physics, and that is because you really like it. I majored in physics because I always liked my classes and wanted to learn more. Along the way, you meet some really smart people who also love physics in relatively small classes. You work together in labs and generally spend a lot of time together. It is a great way to go through college.
What have your former college classmates and students done (besides doctoral study) after earning their undergraduate degrees in physics?
It is all over the map. Various types of engineering are all possible. I even have one friend that designs robots. Others have gone into science journalism. Another friend with a physics major joined the Air Force and flies planes.
How has undergraduate instruction in physics changed since you were a student? (for example, new courses, new technology)
Amazingly little has changed about how we teach in physics to the physics majors. Unlike biology, I could teach first year physics out of a book that is nearly 100 years old and the curriculum would be almost the same. The books now are thicker and full of color photographs about careers in physics, but the main content is the same once you dig it out.
There is a move afoot now to teach non-physics majors in a more interactive way than the lecture format. Electronic devices called "clickers" allow students to answer multiple choice questions in real time so the professor can spend more or less time on the topic.
When budgets allow, smaller classes that focus on problem solving are formed which are terrific if a university can afford to do that. For while there was a attempt to formalize how students learned from their peers by forcing them to work on short questions together in class.
I've read that physics majors often double-major in subjects such as math, computer science and education. Is this still the case?
We have people double-majoring or taking a minor. Since you don't need this to graduate it is largely just a bureaucratic hurdle. The relevant thing is that you took the extra courses and have the interest. Our own university merged together curricula from the biology and physics department to form a biophysics major which has been popular among the students. The idea is that these learn both real biology and real physics. But for every course a student takes, that represents another course they do not take to graduate. So while the double major may add depth in math and physics, it probably comes at the expense of breadth of exposure to other topics.
Do you believe that increased public spending in STEM subjects (science,technology, engineering and math) will encourage more students to major in physics, or are they more likely to major in other subjects?
I don't know. It probably could not hurt.
Do you believe that the demand for doctorates in physics in the U.S. will increase, decrease or remain about the same over the next ten years?
What I do know is that universities have been cutting back their admissions to physics graduate school because of budget cuts. That will reduce the number of physics Ph.D.'s in about five years.
For example, The Department of Education did not renew our GAANN fellowship program which encouraged traditionally underrepresented groups to attend graduate school and will directly reduce our number of students.
It seems counter-productive to be cutting back on graduate programs when we are trying to stimulate the economy. A graduate student spends nearly every dollar they earn; while in school they do not take a job from someone else; and when they graduate they are often part of the cutting edge workforce that creates new fields and jobs.
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