Southern Connecticut State University Physics Department:
An Introduction
The Physics Department offers Bachelor of Science/General Program, Bachelor of Scienc/Engineering Concentration and Bachelor of Arts degrees in Physics and the Bachelor of Science in Physics/Secondary Education. At the graduate level, students may select a physics concentration for the M.S. in Science Education or an M.S. in applied physics. Development of the master's degree with an emphasis in materials physics is a departmental goal. Consistent with that goal, we are building collaborative ties with technology-oriented companies in Connecticut to complement our interactions with physics and engineering faculty at other universities including Yale. We also participate very actively in projects to enhance pre-college science education.
We currently have seven full-time tenure-track faculty, all of whom have Ph.D.s from established research universities. Our degree programs all include extensive opportunities for undergraduate and master's-level student research participation and guided independent study. Including elementary courses, the department's total annual "headcount" enrollment is the largest of all physics departments in Connecticut institutions of higher education. With all of our students, we seek to build active curiosity, investigative skills, intellectual independence and confidence. We teach for understanding and assess for long-term mastery.
Faculty carry out scholarly work leading to publication or presentation at professional meetings, commensurate with the primary teaching mission of the institution. Physics faculty scholarship very much involves students, and encourages them to see themselves as part of the larger community of scientists. Within the past two years, six of our undergraduate students co-authored peer-reviewed papers that were accepted for publication in the proceedings of major research conferences.
The past several years have been a time of rapid progress for the department. Course enrollments have risen annually at every level for the past five years. A recent major development was the award of $1.5 million over six years to Prof. Broadbridge of our department by the NSF, as part of a joint Materials Research Science and Engineering Center Grant with Yale. Two other NSF grants support Prof. Cummings' research in physics education. Prof. Enjalran is the recent recipient of a Cottrell College Science grant for his work in theoretical condensed matter physics. Our chapter of the Society of Physics Students received Outstanding Chapter Awards in 1999, 2004 and 2005 from the national SPS, and hosted the 2006 SPS Zone 1 conference, with guest speakers S. James Gates and Michio Kaku.
We have three laboratories equipped with research-grade apparatus, for materials characterization (including scanning probe and both scanning and transmission electron microscopy), for fiber optics, and astronomical instrument development and for studies of electrical and thermal transport properties of solids at low temperatures including superconductors. Noteworthy instruments include a NanoScope 3 atomic force microscope and a Gentle Mill ion-milling system for preparing electron microscope samples. We also have a metalworking shop with an array of industrial-grade machine tools.
The department is located in Jennings Hall, the university's main science facility, which opened in 1981 and which also houses the chemistry, biology, environmental studies and science education, and nursing departments. A new science facility, with extensive research laboratory space, is the next scheduled building project in Southern's Master Facilities plan.
