ACADEMIC CAREER IN
PHYSICS
Sophomore
Seminar
PATH TO AN ACADEMIC CAREER
Undergraduate Physics Major
Graduate School
Postdoctoral Research
Faculty Position
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
GRE (CONTINUED)
 GRE Information online:
 http://www.ets.org/gre/subject/about/content/ physics
 http://www.ets.org/gre/
 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
PHYSICS GRE TOPICS
Lab Methods
6%
Spec. Topics
9%
Relativity
6%
Atomic
10%
… some of the
questions are, well,
random and very
specific.
Best to review broadly
Mechanics
20%
E&M
18%
Quantum
12%
Thermo/Stat
10%
Optics/Waves
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!
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….)
TIMELINE
 Year 1
 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!
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: ~100-400 pages
 Defense: oral presentation and Q&A session
 By this point, you are THE world expert on topic!
THEORY VS EXPERIMENT
Theory
 Working on
calculating/solving
 VERY math intensive:
Study all the math you
can!
 May be more
computational or pen
and paper
Experiment
 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
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 postdoctoral research positions. (Postdocs for short)
 Analogy:
 Grad Student = “Apprentice”
 Postdoc = “Journeyman”
 Professor/Scientist = “Master”
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
FACULT Y 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
FACULT Y 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
JOB PROSPECTS
 Frankly, challenging to get academic job
 Numbers:

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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…
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: 24000 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
TIMELINE FOR A FACULT Y POSITION




Graduate School: 4-6 years
Postdoc: 2-6 years
Assistant Professor (before tenure): 6 years
Total: 12-18 years from undergrad
 You will “finish” the process at age 34-40 (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
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



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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…)
CAUTIONS ABOUT AN ACADEMIC CAREER
 Constant need to self -fund



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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!
QUESTIONS?
The end