1. Academic Career in Physics
Sophomore Seminar

2. Path to an Academic Career
Undergraduate Physics Major
Graduate School
Postdoctoral Research
Faculty Position

3. Undergraduate Main goal: Prepare for graduate school
Take as many physics courses as you can (within reason)
Get advice from your class advisor on courses
Try to get as much as possible out of each course
Prepare to take the Physics GRE
General + Physics subject exam (physics most important)
First step: learn as much physics as possible
At some level, your Physics score will determine graduate schools you can get into
The best schools use strict cuts on GRE as starting point to filter applicants

4. GRE (Continued) GRE Information online:
Take the exam in Fall of senior year, or Junior Spring if you feel comfortable with the material
Allow time to take exam twice if possible, in case you have trouble
e.g., illness, some other sort of disruption
Senior seminar and Dept. study groups will help you prepare
Can download free practice exam
No reason not to download and flip through now, just to get an idea what to expect

5. Physics GRE Topics
… some of the questions are, well, random and very specific.
Best to review broadly

6. Physics Graduate School
Apply late fall/early spring of senior year
Keys to getting accepted:
Transcript and grades
Letters of recommendation
Especially from research experience/summer REUs
GRE scores (especially physics)
Picking a graduate school: Important decision
Depends a lot on field(s) of study you think you might want to pursue
Intangibles are important
Relationship with advisor (more in a moment)
Graduate student classmates
Departmental atmosphere
(happiness is important)
Ask professors for advice!

7. Graduate School Basics
Most physics programs focus on Ph.D.
Stay at one school the entire time
Typically takes 5-7 years
Physics graduate school should be free
In fact, you usually are paid a modest stipend while a student
In return, you serve as either teaching assistant or research assistant
If you are not offered a TA or RA, probably don’t want to go to that school
If you can win a national fellowship (i.e. NSF) for graduate study, big plus!
Higher salary, no teaching responsibilities
Applications for these are due before the grad school ones
Take classes and do research
Classes mostly done in first 2 years
Focus is on research with a thesis advisor
End goal: Produce a Ph.D. thesis
Original research
Guided by a professor who serves as advisor to research (and often career and life….)

8. TimeLine Year 1 Year 2 Year 3-5+
Taking core graduate classes (Quantum, Math methods, E&M—Jackson, mechanics)
Typically supported by TA
Exploring research areas, looking for a graduate advisor
Year 2
Taking advanced classes, especially in subfield (e.g. particle, nuclear, condensed matter, etc.)
Continue TA or start RA (if working with an advisor with sufficient funding.
Year 3-5+
Done with most classes
RA, unless advisor doesn’t have enough funds (otherwise TA)
Note: Typically work on research through summers—no more summer break!

9. To Graduate Exact requirements vary among institutions Courses:
Core graduate curriculum
Electives: both within specialty and outside (breadth)
Qualifying Exam (sometimes called other names)
Written physics exam that must be passed in early years
Focuses on advanced undergrad/core graduate curriculum (i.e. mechanics, E&M, stat mech., quantum.
Difficulty and scope varies widely among institutions
Candidacy exam (some schools don’t have this):
Oral (and sometimes written) in specialty
Usually: purpose to evaluate whether you’re pursuing a viable thesis
Ph.D. Thesis
Written document: ~ pages
Defense: oral presentation and Q&A session
By this point, you are THE world expert on topic!

10. Typically choose theory vs experiment early on
Working on calculating/solving
VERY math intensive: Study all the math you can!
May be more computational or pen and paper
Measuring things
Need to have good grasp of statistics, electronics, and computer programming
Often better funding: more chance of RA, less of being TA as senior student
Typically choose theory vs experiment early on

11. After Graduate School You are now “Dr. So-and-so”
You can make your friends/siblings call you “Dr.”
Your parents may call you this whether you want them to or not
You are not a professor yet!
Need a faculty position
Depending on goals, may need to do one or more post-doctoral research positions. (Postdocs for short)
Analogy:
Grad Student = “Apprentice”
Postdoc = “Journeyman”
Professor/Scientist = “Master”

12. Postdoc Perform research full time under guidance of faculty member
Temporary position: 2-6 years
Sometimes will do two (or even three) before finding permanent position (e.g. faculty, lab scientist)
Salary typically about 2x greater than graduate stipend
Often asked to do research tasks faculty can’t do because of teaching responsibilities:
Live at remote experimental facility
Travel to different labs for experiments
“Visibility” or “becoming known” to other members of the field is a big part of this stage
Should include high-profile talks at conferences, leadership positions
Forms basis for “next step” in career

13. Faculty Position Teaching and research performed at university
Balance between teaching and research determined by type of institution (see next slide)
Timeline
Assistant Professor: Initially hired for limited term contract: either 6 years or 3 years + 3 years (with renewal decision in between)
After 6 years: tenure decision
Establish national research reputation + sufficient to excellent teaching: given permanent position: Associate Professor
Fail to do so: contract not renewed—dismissed from university
Full Professor:
Establish international research reputation
Service to the university
Typically after ~6 years as associate professor

14. Faculty Position Research University Liberal-Arts School
Postdoc required
Spend ≥ ½ time on research
Teach 1 course per semester
Supervise graduate students
Teaching assistants to help with grading, help sessions etc.
Postdoc optional
Research often “on your own time” or limited to summers
Teach ≥2 courses per semester
Only work with undergraduates
Limited access to teaching assistants

15. Job Prospects Frankly, challenging to get academic job Numbers:
Physics Ph.D.’s graduated per year in US: 1554 (2009)
Number of Physics faculty retirements per year (2006-8): 378
Number of Physics faculty openings per year in US: 705 (2008)
Number of new Physics faculty hires per year: 563 (2007)
Openings in field can vary significantly depending on circumstances
Example: plunge in HEP openings when SSC canceled
May not have luxury of being picky about where in country (or world) you seek employment
Will need a back-up plan
Luckily, physics is good training for lots of things…

16. Another Perspective
If you want a teaching and research position at a top university (like ND), cannot apply for any faculty openingonly opening in your specific field
Take (as example) my field (experimental high energy physics)
Over last few years:
~ 15 faculty offers made per year in US HEP experiment
Compare to
NFL draft: Div 1 players: 224 players / year (32 in first round)
NBA draft: 4800 Div 1 players: 60 players / year (30 in first round)
Getting a faculty position at a research university is not easy
You can do it, but be prepared for the challenge
Work hard!
Have a backup plan

17. Timeline for a Faculty Position
Graduate School: 4-6 years
Postdoc: 2-6 years
Assistant Professor (before tenure): 6 years
Total: years from undergrad
You will “finish” the process at age (assuming you graduate from college at age 22), where “finish” just means “tenure”
Be prepared to be significantly “behind” your peers who go into private sector in terms of career advancement
Be aware that part of the way through the process, you may not be able to move to next level (e.g. unable to find faculty position after 6 years of postdoc)
Being aware of this timeline is key to avoid disappointment

18. Benefits of Academic Career
Absolutely best job in the whole world!
Job responsibilities include:
Plumbing the depths of the universe to wrest away its secrets
Interacting with and guiding brightest young minds US has to offer
Communicating your enthusiasm and excitement regarding physics to the world at large
Other benefits
Complete freedom regarding research path (and largely teaching too)
No one keeping track of hours, activities, etc.
Flexible schedule outside academic school year
Discounts on football tickets, tuition, bookstore, etc.
You will love your job and never be bored for rest of your life (many profs work past retirement age and then become professor emeritus: still have office and do research but no teaching/service—and of course, you’re retired…)

19. Cautions about an Academic Career
Constant need to self-fund
Research is paid for by grants you write
No productivity = no grant money = no research
So, being your own boss means that you work all of the time
Career/Family balance can be tricky
Many competing responsibilities
An academic department is a cooperative
Committees have to do work or nothing functions
Teaching: very important but time-consuming
All of this takes time away from research
Sort of like being an undergraduate again
Too many things to do in too little time
Priority/time management, triage techniques, efficiency become key
Exhilarating, but Exhausting!

20. Questions?
The end