Physics & Astronomy
Culture, Professionalism & Careers
Phys 695
On-line journals and magazines:
• Research and Development:
http://www.rdmag.com/scripts/default.asp
• Solid State Technology: http://sst.pennnet.com/home.cfm
• Semiconductor International:
http://www.reed-electronics.com/semiconductor/
• The Industrial Physicist: http://www.aip.org/tip/
• Physics Today: http://www.aip.org/pt/
• Scientific American: http://www.sciam.com/
• Science Magazine (AAAS): http://www.scienceonline.org/
• Sky and Telescope: http://skyandtelescope.com/
• Science News: http://www.sciencenews.org/
• New Scientist: http://www.newscientist.com/
• Popular Science: http://www.popsci.com/
• American Scientist (Sigma Xi):
http://www.americanscientist.org//amsci.html
• Astronomy Magazine: http://www.astronomy.com/
• The Physics Teacher
IEEE/OSA Physics-Related Journals
• IEEE Transactions on
– Electron Devices
– Instrumentation & Measurement
– Magnetics
– Nuclear Science
– Superconductivity
• OSA
 Journal of the Optical Society of America A, B
Applied Optics
Optics Letters
Optics Express
Journal of Optical Networking
Advances in Optics and Photonics
Virtual Journal of Biomedical Optics
Journal of Lightwave Technology
Journal of Optical Technology
Journal of Display Technology
Chinese Optics Letters
Applied Spectroscopy
 Journal of Acoustical Society of America
Professional Societies
• American Physical Society (APS)
– Society of Physics Students (SPS)
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American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT)
American Astronomical Society
Optical Society of America
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE)
Acoustical Society of America (ASA; asa.aip.org )
Conferences
• APS National Meetings
– “March” meeting - condensed matter physics
– “April” meeting - everything else
• APS Sectional (California Section, etc.)
– Fall 2011 meeting will be at SLAC
• AAPT National Meetings
– “Winter” meeting
– Summer meeting
• AAPT Sectional (N. California / Nevada): www.ncnaapt.org
• OSA Meetings
• Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO)
• International Quantum Electronics Conference (IQEC)
• IEEE Applied Superconductivity Conference
• IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium And Medical Imaging
Conference
Physics Career Paths
Careers of SFSU
Physics &
Astronomy Graduates
• Technical staff in industry:
– Computer and instrument companies:
• Hewlett-Packard / Agilent, Varian, ..
– Semiconductor device and equip. manufacturers
• National Semiconductor, Novellus, Applied Materials
– Biomedical equipment manufacturers
– Laser and laser optics companies
– Aerospace companies
• Lockheed-Martin, Loral Space
Careers
(continued)
• Technical/professional staff at national labs:
– NASA Ames, SLAC, FermiLab, LBL, Observatories
• Science education:
– High School, Community College teaching
– Science Centers - Exploratorium, etc.
– Planetarium staff
– Multimedia production for science
• Graduate programs (SFSU, MIT, Harvard, UC
Berkeley, UC Davis; Engineering MS/Ph.D.)
Other Example Career Paths
• M.H.S in environmental health sciences
• Ph.D. program in Physics at the University of Colorado at
Boulder
• Masters degree in mechanical engineering at Cornell University
• Staff member, UCSD Center for Microscopy and Imaging
Research
• Working at MIT Lincoln Laboratory
• Master's program in Science Writing
• PhD program at MIT Dept. Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary
Sci.
• Research Asst., Macroeconomics Dept., Fed. Reserve Bank
• Research Analyst at ATLANTIC-ACM,
• Ph.D. program in Astrophysical Sciences
• Analyst, Envision Consulting, Unit of IMS Health
• Working at NIST in Maryland
• Credential program for high school teaching
• Community college physics instructor
Job Application
Graduate Fellowships
Article from Chronicle of Higher Ed. "How to Win Graduate Fellowship:
http://chronicle.com/jobs/news/2006/05/2006051101c/careers.html
Department of Defense - National Defense Science and
Engineering Graduate Fellowship www.asee.org/ndseg. Deadline
Jan., 2012
Department of Defense - Science, Mathematics & Research for
Transformation (SMART) Defense Scholarship for Service
Deadline Dec., 2011. http://www.asee.org/smart.
The Department of Energy Computational Science Graduate
Fellowship (DOE CSGF) DL Jan., 2012. www.krellinst.org/csgf.
The Department of Energy National Nuclear Security
Administration Stewardship Science Graduate Fellowship
(SSGF) students pursuing a Ph.D. in areas such as high-energy
density physics, low-energy nuclear science or properties of materials
under extreme conditions. www.krellinst.org/ssgf.
Fannie and John Hertz Foundation Graduate Fellowships for
innovators in applied Physical Sciences. DL Oct., 2011.
http://www.hertzfoundation.org .
National Physical Science Consortium fellowships with emphasis on
recruiting historically underrepresented minority and women students in
physical sciences and related engineering fields. http://www.npsc.org.
The NSF Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship
http://www.igert.org/index.asp
The NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program
www.fastlane.nsf.gov/grfp/.
Smithsonian Institution fellowships for research and study in many
fields including astrophysics and astronomy and materials research. DL
Jan. 2011. http://www.si.edu/research+study.
Knowles Science Teaching Fellowship (KTSF) for those who recently
earned a bachelor's degree in a physical science and want to become
licensed to teach high school physics, physical science. DL Jan., 2012.
www.asee.org/ndseg.kstf.org
Physicist’s Bookshelf
• Introductory
– Lea & Burke, Physics (Alt. - Halliday & Resnick)
– Feynman, Lectures on Physics
– Berkeley Physics Series (some volumes out of print)
• Modern (Atomic, Basic QM, Nuclear)
– Eisberg - Quantum Physics- Atoms,.. Nuclei, & Particles
• Classical Mechanics
– Symon - Mechanics
– Taylor - Classical Mechanics
– Thornton & Marion, Classical Dynamics of Particles &
Systems
• E&M
– Griffiths (Alt -Corson & Lorrain, Electromagnetic Fields &
Waves)
• Thermal/Stat. Mech
– Schroeder, Thermal Physics;
– Reif, Fundamentals of Statistical and Thermal Physics
• QM
– J. Greensite QM (Alt. - Griffiths)
• Lab Methods/Data Analysis
– J. Lockhart, Mod. Data Acq. & Analysis (Alt. Bevington)
• Electronics
– Horowitz & Hill, Art of Electronics
• Mathematical Methods
– S. Lea, Math. for Physicists
• Solid State
– C. Kittel, Solid State Physics (Alt. - Omar)
• Optics
– Hecht, Optics (Alt. - Jenkins & White)