Physics & Astronomy 
Degree available in Physics & Astronomy:
Physics is perhaps the most fundamental of the natural sciences, striving to understand the basic laws of nature and the physical behavior of the universe on all scales, from the cosmic to the sub-microscopic. In guiding our physics majors towards this goal, we also hope to accomplish two other objectives: that our graduates will have acquired the ability to think analytically and will have gained experience in the methods of experimental investigation of physical phenomena.
Facilities in the Department of Physics and Astronomy include an observatory with computer-controlled telescope equipped with electronic imaging, a laser optics lab with a pulsed dye laser using a Nd:YAG laser as a pumping source, a low-energy particle accelerator, a scanning tunneling microscope and an atomic force microscope, a new thin films lab, a computer interfacing lab for computer control of physics experiments, and up-to-date electronics and computer equipment for all of the labs.
Third-year physics majors work individually with faculty members on a year-long research project, and a senior research thesis is available as an option. Most faculty are involved in research in physics or astronomy, and encourage participation from cadets in the department.
The curriculum provides opportunities for frequent and close association among physics majors and the faculty in the department. The department sponsors a chapter of the Society of Physics Students, as well as a chapter of Sigma Pi Sigma, the national physics honor society.
