Students who obtain practical experience will have an advantage when they apply for jobs or when they apply to graduate programs. There are many ways to gain practical experience.
- St. Mary’s Project in Physics or a related subject
- Directed Research for academic credit (PHYS 297/397/497) in physics or a related subject
- Off-Campus Internship for academic credit (PHYS 398/498) in physics or a related subject. This can simultaneously satisfy the Experiencing the Liberal Arts in the World (ELAW) requirement of the Core Curriculum.
- Off-campus internship not for academic credit. This can simultaneously satisfy the Experiencing the Liberal Arts in the World (ELAW) requirement of the Core Curriculum.
Some St. Mary’s students perform summer research on campus with faculty. Many other St. Mary’s physics students spend their summers in off-campus internships. Students performed internships at NASA, National Institutes of Health, the National Institute of Standards & Technology, several Navy research centers, the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, Georgetown University, Purdue University, engineering firms, and many others.