graduate education in department of physics, university of arkansas permanent faculty 19 visiting...

Graduate Education in Department of Physics, University of Arkansas

Permanent Faculty 19

Visiting Faculty, Post Doc ~15

Graduate Students ~ 40

Undergraduate Students ~ 100

Technical & Secretarial Staff 6

http://www.uark.edu/depts/physics/

MA, MS, MS (Appl. Phys.), mostly Ph.D

Research Areas Astronomy Atomic and Molecular Physics Biophysics Condensed Matter (Experiment and Theory) Nano-Science Lasers, Optics and Quantum Optics Physics Education

Degrees Awarded

Multimillion External Funding from NSF, ONR, DOE, AFOSR, ARO

$ 4.75M MRSEC:Center for Semiconductor Physics in Nanostructures

>50 refereed publications/Yr: Nature, Science, Phys. Rev. Lett., Phys. Rev., Opt. Lett., Appl. Phys. Lett.

3 NSF - REU sites: Modern Optics, Micro-EP, SPAC

5 APS Fellows; 2 OSA Fellows

1 NSF Young Investigator, 4 NSF CAREER Awards (96, 98, 00, 07)

3 Distinguished/Chaired Professors

Introduction of the Department

Annual Departmental Research Budget $3,500,000

Ph.D. scholarships up to $34,000/year per student for DDF $24,000/year per student for DAF

Small classrooms, individual attention

Low living cost, low crime rate

Job market (Wal-Mart, Tyson, JB Hunt)

Attractions for recruiting new students

Molecular Beam EpitaxyScanning Tunneling MicroscopySemiconductor DotsSpintronicsSuperconductivityFerroelectric nanostructuresII-VI and III-V MaterialsOptical Properties

Faculty: Bellaiche, Chakhalian, Fu, Gea-Banacloche, Gross, Li, Oliver, Salamo, Thibado, Vyas, Xiao

Condensed Matter/NanoscienceResearch Area I:

Faculty: Bellaiche, Fu, Gea-Banacloche, Harter, Lieber, Vyas

Computational/Theoretical PhysicsResearch Area II:

Density Functional CalculationsPiezo/Ferroelectric PhysicsSemiconductor NanostructuresMolecular SpectraMany-Body PhysicsOptical PropertiesPhase Transitions

Quantum OpticsQuantum InformationQuantum ComputingPhoton StatisticsNon-Linear OpticsOptical SqueezingPhotothermal SpectraCavity QED

Faculty: Gea-Banacloche, Gupta, Salamo, Singh, Vyas, Xiao

Quantum Optics and Nonlinear OpticsResearch Area III:

DNA SequencingSingle DNA DetectionSolid State NanoporeNeural ComputationBiological LabelingNanofabricationOptical Bio-ManipulationBio-Contamination Detection

Faculty: Gross, Li, Oliver, Salamo, Singh, Xiao

Bio-PhysicsResearch Area IV:

Precision modeling of education processCurriculum developmentBinary StarsNear-Earth AsteroidsQuasars at high redshift

Faculty: G. Stewart, J. Stewart, Kennefick, Lacy, Lieber

Physics Education and Astronomy (MS only)Research Area V:

(A) We form a task force committee for recruiting new graduate students;

(B) Besides normal courses, we open a cohort class (where students learn communication, presentation, journal club, and association)

(C) Opening a “Research seminar’’ class, in which each professor introduces his/her research to new students.

(D) For core courses (quantum mechanics, mathematical methods, electrodynamics), we add an additional section (one hour per week) for problem solving.

Our approaches to improve graduate educationsFirst year:

(A) Adopting a new model for candidacy exams (by allowing students to pass individual subject);

(B) Offering a “laboratory rotation’’ class, in which students choose to work in different labs of their interest.

(C) Each student is required to have one-hour annual evaluation (by presenting the course studies, research progress, and future plan in front of the committee).

(D) After the second year, the research advisor takes over the responsibility of supervising.

Our approaches to improve graduate educationsSecond year:

(A) Offering DDF and DAF to exceptional students;

(B) After the second year, we award the good students (who perform well in courses and in research) with the prestigious Ray Hughes Fellowships (established in 2007).

(C) Hiring faculties in new research areas (Biophysics, experimental materials science, and quasar astronomy).

Our approaches to improve graduate educations

Since new approaches were used in Jan. 2007,

(1)More students passed candidacy exam;

(2) Students are better informed about the departmental expectation, the difficulty of candidacy exams, and the availability of research areas and subjects;

(3) Students are better prepared in course learning;

(4) Students are more involved in research (partly due to annual evaluation);

(5) By hiring faculties in new areas (Biophysics, and experimental materials science), students tend to go to these new areas.

Preliminary results