What
is
this
program?
The Chemical and Materials
Physics Program is a concentration in the Physical Sciences graduate
degree
program at UCI. It was created by the faculty of the UCI Departments of
Physics and Chemistry. Through the program students can earn a Masters
(M.S.) degree or Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree. The Masters
degree
is designed to provide an excellent training for beginning a career in
high technology industries, or for efficiently pursuing specialized
research
and studies leading to the Ph.D.
Why do we have it?
The Concentration in
Chemical
and Materials Physics is essentially a reorganization and merger of the
graduate curricula in Physical Chemistry and Condensed Matter
Physics.
The intellectual underpinnings and research goals of these two
disciplines
largely overlap, and their separation into two different departments
(Chemistry,
and Physics and Astronomy) is an historical artifact of an era in which
chemical understanding was more qualitative and physicists concentrated
their attention on chemically simple model systems. The current
research
emphasis in both fields is to provide a microscopic, first principles
understanding
of matter in all of its forms, and to use this understanding in the
design
and applications of a wide variety of novel materials.
Another important recent
development which has motivated a nationwide reexamination of the
graduate
curricula in Physical Chemistry and Condensed Matter Physics is the
changing
nature of careers in the physical sciences. The traditional curriculum
in both departments is implicitly based on the assumption that students
are preparing for an academic career. However, preparing students "in
our
own image" based on the assumption that they will have similar
positions
at a research university does not reflect the reality of the job
market.
Although there is essentially zero unemployment among physical science
graduates, only a small fraction of PhDs become academic investigators.
A full 95 percent of PhDs take positions in non-academic sectors,
primarily
in industry. Moreover, industrial employment opportunities for physical
scientists have undergone profound changes in recent years.
The central research
laboratories
at large corporations have been downsized, and have been replaced by
research
and development operations of an increasing number of smaller high
technology
companies. Increasingly the demand in the new job market is for
scientists
with breadth and versatility, since in the new setting a single
scientist
is expected to carry out a wide variety of tasks. Physical scientists
working
in the semiconductor, biotechnology, or environmental sensing
industries
require the skills at the intersection of physics, chemistry, and
materials
that the ChaMP Concentration will provide.
Is it demanding?
Of course, but the program
provides students with the academic training to meet these
challenges.
The program offers more flexibility than some traditional programs: a
student
can elect to pursue a two-year Masters or more traditional five-year
doctorate
program, and need not decide which option to pick until completion of
the
Masters program. Flexibility also exists in the classroom instruction,
which contains a considerable number of elective graduate courses that
can be chosen to fit a student's specific field of interest. The
possibilities
for research opportunities are numerous, of course, as one might expect in
a program that spans two Departments and 23 faculty members.
The program begins with
a unique Summer Session that integrates incoming graduate students from
both physics and chemistry. Cross-training in either physics or
chemistry
and a rigorous Laboratory Skills course will allow students to develop
an academic foundation for their next two years at UCI.
What is the role
of industry?
We have a circle of
advisors
from high-tech industry located (for the most part) in Orange
County.
By keeping in close contact with these representatives of the
industries
that employ our graduates, we keep our educational program tuned to
current
and developing industrial needs. The program also puts a premium in the
early stages of a student's career on mastering an array of practical
technology
skills (e.g. laser spectroscopy, optics and instrumentation design,
electronics,
chemical safety and handling, CAD, computer simulation and molecular
modeling).
In the later stages of the program the emphasis is naturally on
developing
the ability to conduct independent research.
What exactly does
one
get a degree in?
The M.S. or Ph.D. is in
Physics or Chemistry, as usual, and at the student's choice.
However,
the posting of the degree includes a concentration in Chemical and
Materials
Physics.
What are a
graduate's
career opportunities?
A host of modern
technologies
in the high-tech industry lie at the interface between chemistry and
physics.
Students training for 21st century careers in, e.g., microelectronics,
biotech, advanced materials, aerospace, or medical physics need
training
that encompasses the powerful techniques in both fields, and which
takes
full advantage of research experience possible in both Departments
along
with valuable opportunities in private industry.
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