Physics Graduate Education
Ph.D. and Masters Programs
Bolstered by its proximity to the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF), the nation’s leading site for underground nuclear and particle physics, the Ph.D. program at South Dakota Mines provides
unique opportunities for research into the underlying principles of the natural world. Our internationally recognized faculty lead students in searches for the dark matter of the universe, studies of the nature of the neutrino and the origin of the
chemical elements, as well as research into condensed matter, e.g. phase transitions in ferroelectric and magnetic materials or quantum materials. For more on the departmental research click
here.
The
mission of the physics Ph.D. program is to provide students with quality
graduate instruction and research experiences that will prepare them for
various career options in academia, industry, and at national labs. First-year
students may be teaching assistants or research assistants; teaching
load is light in order to allow an early start in research. Important milestones in the course of our
program are the qualifying exam, typically taken after completing the required coursework,
and the comprehensive exam, in which students defend their dissertation
research scope and plan.
Detailed policies and requirements of the physics graduate program are described in the Physics Graduate Program Handbook.
Check out Planned Graduate Physics Course Offerings for semester-by-semester graduate course
schedule between 2021 Fall and 2025 Spring.
Physics PhD Program
You
can find a link to the Physics PhD program overview, including application
requirements, here.
Physics Masters Program
Our
graduate program may accept a limited number of MS (Master of Science)
applications. You can find a link to the Physics MS program overview
here.
Graduate-Program Coordinator
For more information please contact Xinhua Bai at Xinhua.Bai@sdsmt.edu, or 605-858-8806 (mobile).