Academic Departments

Program Objectives and Learning Outcomes

Physics BS Program objectives and student learning outcomes:

Objective #1: Students will have strong scientific and technical skills.
Student learning outcomes:
1. Students will have information literacy.
2. Students will be skilled at problem solving.
3. Students will be skilled at inquiry and analysis.
4. Students will be skilled at critical and creative thinking.
5. Students will demonstrate skills with instrumentation, software, encoding, and data analysis.

Objective #2: Students will effectively use physics to solve problems.
Student learning outcomes:
1. Students will demonstrate competency in applying basic laws of physics in classical and quantum mechanics, electricity and magnetism, thermodynamics and statistical mechanics and special relativity, and the applications of these laws in areas such as optics, condensed matter physics, properties of materials, nuclear and particle physics, and other disciplines.
2. Students will represent basic physics concepts in multiple ways, including mathematically (including through estimations), conceptually, verbally, pictorially, computationally, by simulation, and experimentally.

Objective #3: Students will communicate effectively.
Student learning outcomes:
1. Students will communicate in writing about scientific and technical concepts concisely and completely.
2. Students will organize and communicate ideas using words, mathematical equations, tables, graphs, pictures, animations, diagrams, and other visualization tools.

Objective #4: Students will have strong professional/workplace skills.
Student learning outcomes:
1. Students will have the ability to work well in teams.
2. Students will be able to plan, organize, and prioritize work.

BS degree assessment: course work, physics design projects. See more details in SD Mines’ academic catalog.

Physics MS Program objectives and student learning outcomes:

Objective 1: Students will have deep knowledge of physics.
Student learning outcomes:
1. Physics M.S.'s should have deep knowledge of the theories that form the basis of classical mechanics, electromagnetism, quantum mechanics, thermodynamics and statistical mechanics.
2. Physics M.S.’s should have deeper knowledge of one or more specialized fields such as condensed matter physics, nuclear physics, particle or astroparticle physics.

Objective 2: Students will be able to perform effective research in physics.
Student learning outcomes:
1a. Physics M.S.'s in experimental subfields should be able to design and conduct experiments in order to investigate physical phenomena. They should be able to analyze data.
1b. Physics M.S.’s in theoretical subfields should be able to apply or extend theories in order to describe or explain physical phenomena.
2. Physics M.S.'s should be prepared to follow a career path in a variety of industries or education.

Objective 3: Students will communicate effectively.
Student learning outcomes:
1. Students will communicate in writing about scientific and technical concepts concisely and completely.
2. Students will organize and communicate ideas using words, mathematical equations, tables, graphs, pictures, animations, diagrams, and other visualization tools.

Non-thesis MS degree assessment: graduate course work, master degree project, project presentations. See more details in SD Mines’ academic catalog.
Thesis MS degree assessment: graduate course work, research proposal, thesis and thesis defense. See more details in SD Mines’ academic catalog.

Physics PhD Program objectives and student learning outcomes:

Objective 1: Students will have deep understanding of physics.
Student learning outcomes:
1. Physics Ph.D.'s should have deep knowledge of the theories that form the basis of classical mechanics, electromagnetism, quantum mechanics, thermodynamics and statistical mechanics.
2. Physics Ph.D.’s should have extensive knowledge of one or more specialized fields such as condensed matter physics, nuclear physics, particle or astroparticle physics.

Objective 2: Students will be able to perform effective research in physics.
Student learning outcomes:
1a. Physics Ph.D.'s in experimental subfields should be able to design and conduct original experiments in order to investigate physical phenomena. They should be able to analyze data and publish these results in scientific journals.
1b. Physics Ph.D.’s in theoretical subfields should be able to apply, extend, or construct theories in order to describe, explain, or predict physical phenomena. They should be able to describe and publish their work in scientific journals.
2. Physics Ph.D.'s should be prepared to follow a career path towards quality positions in academia or assume leading technical roles in a variety of industries.

PhD degree assessment: qualifying exam, comprehensive exam, dissertation and dissertation defense. See more details in SD Mines’ academic catalog.