Program Learning Outcomes
Specific statements of what students should be able to do as a result of the department's curricular and co-curricular experiences have been developed for physics majors and other majors taking one or more courses in the Physics Department.
Our most important outcome for all our students is that they enthusiastically engage in learning what is known about our world and develop a passion for participating in pushing the bounds of our knowledge even further.
LEARNING OUTCOMES FOR NON-PHYSICS MAJORS
All students should be able to:
- Explain how physics applies to phenomena in the world around them.
Students in physics courses that provide the foundation for later courses in their disciplines should additionally be able to:
- Recognize how and when physics methods and principles can help address problems in their major and then apply those methods and principles to solve problems in the majors.
LEARNING OUTCOMES FOR PHYSICS MAJORS
Physicists are renowned for the power of their problem-solving capabilities. Great emphasis and effort is spent providing students with tools and methods to approach and solve increasingly challenging problems. We hope that these challenges will not only broaden and deepen students' skills but will amplify their drive to participate in discovery.
Students completing a major or additional major in physics will develop mastery in solving complex and diverse problems. They will demonstrate this by:
- Identifying and applying relevant physical laws and principles to problems.
- Developing models and articulating relevant assumptions, approximations, and limitations.
- Applying mathematical, statistical, and computational skills to develop solutions.
- Evaluating, assessing, and interpreting their results.
Experimental Skills
Students completing a major or additional major in physics will develop mastery in a range of experimental methodologies. They will demonstrate this by:
- Designing and troubleshooting experiments.
- Acquiring data using a variety of laboratory instrumentation.
- Analyzing data, including the application of statistical methods, as well as the consideration of correlations and uncertainty in measurements.
- Interpreting and evaluating experimental results in the context of relevant physical laws and principles.
Professional Skills
Students completing a major or additional major in physics will develop important professional skills. These include:
- Communicating effectively via oral, visual, and written formats to diverse audiences.
- Developing a sense of belonging within a broad community of physicists, including the ability to identify professional and academic opportunities available to those with training in physics.
- Developing and enacting plans to acquire new knowledge or expertise.