Physics
Department

Academic Opportunities

The Physics Department has five overlapping options for study:  Physics Major, Physics Major with Concentration in Applied Physics, Physics Minor, Physics Major with preparation for the Masters of Arts in Teaching (MAT), Joint Degree Program in Physics & Engineering.

Outlines of each course study follow below.  For more details, please refer to the Course Catalog.

Physics Major	Physics Major with Concentration in Applied Physics
Required courses:
Fundamentals of Physics 1*	Fundamentals of Physics 1*
Fundamentals of Physics 2*	Fundamentals of Physics 2*
Fundamentals of Physics 3	Fundamentals of Physics 3
Mechanics	Electronics
Advanced Physics Laboratory	Advanced Physics Laboratory
Electricity & Magnetism	Electricity & Magnetism
Quantum Mechanics	Quantum Mechanics
Statistical Mechanics	Intro to Computre Science 1 or General Chemistry 2
St. Mary's Project (8 credits)	Topics in Applied Physics 1
	Topics in Applied Physics 2
Calculus 1	Calculus 1
Calculus 2	Calculus 2
Vector Calculus	Vector Calculus
Linear Algebra	Linear Algebra
Elective (one of the following)	Elective (one of the following)
Mathematical Methods in Physics, Optics, Astrophysics & Cosmology Senior Seminar in Physics, Differential Equations, Physical Chemistry, Independent Study (PHYS 399/499)	Mechanics, Optics, Astrophysics & Cosmology, Statistical Mechanics, Senior Seminar Physics, Differential Equations, Physical Chemistry, Software Engineering 1, Partial Differential Equations
	The St. Mary's Project is recommended but not required for the Concentration in Applied Physics

* General Physics 1 & 2 may be substituted for Fundamentals of Physics 1 & 2, respectively, but the Fundamentals of Physics courses are recommended.

Physics Minor

Required courses

Fundamentals of Physics 1*

Fundamentals of Physics 2*

Fundamentals of Physics 3

Elective courses (2 of the following)

Mathematical Methods in Physics, Mechanics, Electricity & Magnetism, Optics, Astrophysics & Cosmology, Quantum Mechanics, Statistical Mechanics

Physics major with preparation for the Masters of Arts in Teaching (MAT)

To prepare for the MAT and a career as a secondary physics teacher, a students should complete the physics major and an education al studies minor.  Courses for the educational studies minor and recommended physics electives are listed here.

Joint Degree Program

• We are proud to partner with the A. James Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland in a dual-degree program. After spending three years at St. Mary's College of Maryland, completing the College, Department, and Engineering requirements, the student then attends the Engineering School for two additional years.
• In addition to the physics major requirements, the student must take General Chemistry 1 and 2 and Differential Equations.
• Instead of an SMP, the department accepts the work done at the University of Maryland as a replacement.

Careers with a Physics Major

A physics major provides preparation for a variety of careers. For example, a physics major with a handful of additional courses qualifies a graduate for many engineering jobs with the US government. According to the Office of Personnel Management, a physics graduate seeking a government engineering position should also have taken five of the following seven courses: (a) statics, dynamics; (b) strength of materials (stress-strain relationships); (c) fluid mechanics, hydraulics; (d) thermodynamics; (e) electrical fields and circuits; (f) nature and properties of materials (relating particle and aggregate structure to properties); and (g) any other comparable area of fundamental engineering science or physics, such as optics, heat transfer, soil mechanics, or electronics. Some of these courses are already part of the SMCM physics major. Others are electives offered at SMCM. The remainder would have to be taken at another institutions, e.g. over the summer.