Physics Minors
Physics Minor
Thomas P. Espinola, Department of Physics
The common thread connecting the different goals and focuses of students pursuing a physics minor is the physicist’s approach to thinking about, modeling and understanding the universe. This process relies on clear, analytical and often abstract thinking but is ultimately grounded in concrete reality as exposed by experiment. Reaching a clear, realistic understanding of some aspect of the world is of value in not only science and engineering but also business, medicine, law and many other fields.
The physics minor will be most useful for majors in other sciences or education who wish to increase their exposure to analytical, mathematical and computational tools which they may later wish to use in their chosen fields of study. These may include chemistry majors interested in physical chemistry, geology majors interested in geophysics and biology majors interested in biophysics. Mathematics majors wishing to gain experiences with hands-on, real-world problems that require the tools of mathematics would also be interested in this minor. The minor will be of value to students in other fields and will be individualized to maximize exposure to skills useful the individual in his or her chosen field of study.
Each student pursuing the physics minor will design a program of study with his or her advisor(s). Most students will choose to take Physics I, II and III. An independent research project is optional but encouraged.
The minor in physics is not available to physics majors.
Physics Minor Requirements
The minor requires a minimum of 16 credit hours (four courses), at least four of which must be in experimental physics and eight in theoretical physics.
- PHYS 121 Classical & Modern Physics I – 5 credits
- PHYS 122 Classical & Modern Physics II – 5 credits
- One course from: 2 – 4 credits
- PHYS 231 Experimental Physics I – 2 credits
- PHYS 232 Experimental Physics II – 2 credits
- One PHYS course at any level – 4 credits
Total credit hours required for Physics Minor – 16 credits
Or
- PHYS 231 Experimental Physics I – 2 credits
- PHYS 232 Experimental Physics II – 2 credits
- One PHYS course at the 300 level or above (other than PHYS 461) – 4 credits
- Two PHYS courses at any level – 8 credits
Total credit hours required for Physics Minor – 16 credits
Note: PHYS 101, 106, 107, 108, 109 and 461 do not apply toward minor.
