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Bellarmine University will be hosting the Spring 2009 KAPT Meeting on March 7th. The event will be held in Room 145 of Miles Hall. For more information, please contact Dr. Akhtar Mahmood (KAPT President) via email.
KAPT Website
For a list of KAPT Section officers click here.
KAPT is the state chapter of AAPT (American Association of Physics Teachers)
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Dr. Syed Ahmad, Professor & Chair, PhD, (email)
Dr. Akhtar Mahmood, Associate Professor (email) (site)
Dr. Pat Holt, Professor (email) jointly with Chemistry
Prof. Mohammed Hamada, Instructor (email) |
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Physics is a fascinating field! Humanity has learned that there is order in the Universe, and that this order can be expressed through physical laws. The study of physics involves understanding of the everyday phenomena in nature, with the creative synthesis of theory and experiment to express the laws of nature, often elegant in their universality. Physics is also the study of the fundamental structure of matter, energy and their interactions with the forces of nature that control systems, from the very small to the very large.
Today the scope of physics extends from the smallest subatomic particles to the distant galaxies and to the entire observable universe. Any student with a curiosity about the physical universe can benefit from studying physics. Physics is not just for physicists. In general, everyone needs an understanding of physics because of the bearing it has on the wide range of issues facing today’s world, such as energy resources, the environment, space exploration, communication and medicine. Physics forms the basis of most of today’s technological innovations and is the core of many new advances in engineering and technology.
Physicists in general strive to develop theories to understand the concepts needed for a precise description of nature and build experiments to test such concepts. Physicists are increasingly using advanced computing tools to find solutions to both scientific and engineering problems, particularly for modeling and simulation of complex processes.
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According to the 2009 US News and World Report Rankings, Bellarmine University is currently ranked among the top 15 Masters institutions in the Southern Region.
Students who pursue an undergraduate degree in physics at Bellarmine University can expect to receive a strong academic preparation and educational training in theoretical, computational and experimental physics with solid scientific and technical foundation in a quality learning environment. At the upper level, program emphasis shifts from structured classroom and laboratory activities to experiences designed to develop increasing independence and creativity. In addition to obtaining a strong foundation in classical physics, thermal & statistical physics, modern physics, quantum physics and electronics, students enrolled in this degree program will also acquire strong software/programming skills, including knowledge and experience in computer simulation/modeling of physical systems using a high performance parallel cluster computer.
One of the great strengths of Bellarmine’s physics program is a small class size and the close collaborative interactions among faculty and students. We offer a robust physics curriculum - the Bachelor of Science degree in physics provides a broad background in physics in a wide range of courses that cultivates active learning, critical thinking, problem solving and computational skills with an interdisciplinary perspective. Students will have the versatility, knowledge and analytical skills necessary to adapt quickly in the dynamic world of modern science and the high-tech industry, ready to develop solutions to complex problems and technologies of tomorrow in our technically-oriented society. By combining a rigorous physics curriculum with the necessary instruction in computer science, mathematics, and computational physics, students enrolled in the physics degree program will acquire versatile marketable skills. Many of today’s physics students will become tomorrow’s leaders and many will be expanding the frontiers of physics, computing, and information technology.
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The Physics Club is very active in organizing several student activities every year. The club holds periodic meetings, hosts guest speakers, and serves to provide social and professional activities for its members. Some of our senior club members offer tutoring services for both the algebra and calculus-based physics courses.
All interested student are welcome to join the club. Don’t forget to stop by the department and get a Physics Club tee-shirt!
Physics Club
Ben Draper (Physics Tutor) (email)
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The Department has a General Physics Lab for the lower division physics, astronomy and electronics courses and a Computational/Modern Physics Lab for upper division physics courses. The General Physics Lab is equipped with a number of electronic devices, and several state-of-the-art computer interfaced equipment from PASCO.
The Computational/Modern Physics Lab is equipped with several high-tech instrumentation, such as a table-top Cosmic Ray Muon Detector, Cloud Chamber, Speed of Light apparatus, Photoelectric Effect apparatus, Milliken Oil-drop apparatus, and an E/M apparatus.
Additionally we are planning to build a 16-node Beowulf Cluster for the Computational Physics course to carry out various parallel processing tasks. The department also has two state-of-the-art 10 inch telescopes for observations. |
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Requirements for a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics, 126 hours
- Students can obtain a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics by completing 74 credit hours in Physics, Math, Computer Science and Chemistry as indicate below. Additionally, 52 credit hours of Gen. Ed. courses need to be completed to fulfill the graduation requirement of 126 credit hours.
- Twelve required physics core courses (41 credit hours): Phys. 205, 206, 211, 307, 404, 405, 406, 408, 410, 420, 440, and 450.
- Seven required mathematics courses (23 credit hours): Math. 117, 118, 215, 216, 301, 314 and 405.
- Four required computer science courses (14 credit hours): C.S. 130, 131, 221, and 341.
- Two required chemistry courses (8 credit hours): Chem. 103 and 104.
- Students enrolled in the Bachelor of Science degree in physics will also receive a minor in mathematics.
- The department also has a 3-2 Engineering option with University of Kentucky.
Requirements for a Minor in Physics, 18 hours
- Students can obtain a minor in Physics by completing 18 credit hours as indicated below.
- Phys. 205, 206, 307, 404 and any one course (3 hours) selected from the following courses – Phys. 211, 405, 406, 410, Chem. 307 or Chem. 308.
Course Requirements
Available Courses
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Students who graduate with a Bachelor of Science degree in physics can either pursue graduate studies towards and MS. and a Ph.D degree in physics and related fields or seek immediate employment after graduation. Physics graduate can also go on to professional schools in a variety of fields. More than ever before, men and women who study physics find themselves entering a wide range of career fields and adapt to the changing work place of the 21st Century in today’s job market.
Many Physics graduates go on to pursue a professional career in the private sector, in high-tech industry as engineers, physicists and computational scientists, as computer consultants, research staff and technicians; and as physics teachers. Others pursue leadership roles in business, management and finance, and also in government. Physics graduates can also pursue employment as software programmers in firms that develop educational and scientific software, or even in Wall Street, where employers are interested in people with a background in computational physics.
What Can I Do With This Degree?
Links
Career Center Positions
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Undergraduate research opportunities exists in the department in the following areas:
- High Energy Physics (Experimental and Theoretical)
- Computational Physics
- High Performance Cluster & Grid Computing
Physics majors can obtain REU summer research internships at a number of prestigious research institutions.
One of our faculty members (Dr. Akhtar Mahmood) is a member of the high profile ATLAS high energy physics experiment at the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) at CERN (European Center for Particle Physics). LHC, the world’s largest “atom smasher” will recreate the primordial universe on a small scale and explore the fundamental structure of matter and the basic forces of nature.
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The department faculty members are active in supervising and mentoring research projects for high school students for the Louisville Regional Science & Engineering Fair. Recently Dr. Mahmood supervised a research project for two DuPont Manual high school students titled “Measurement of Muon Flux and Decay Rate using a Muon Detector”.
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