Exploring the Universe: A Complete Guide to Earning a Ph.D. in Physics

Why Study Physics?

Physics is the study of space, time, energy, and matter. Physicists try to ask and answer, in a verifiable and reproducible way, the deepest questions about the origin, nature, and fate of the universe. The study of physics encompasses the study of the universe from the largest galaxies to the smallest subatomic particles. In this sense, it is the broadest and most fundamental science.

Physicists working at SMU ask and try to answer questions like:

• What is the origin of the universe?
• Why is there something rather than nothing?
• What are the building blocks of the universe?
• What are the forces that hold together those building blocks?

Learning to ask and answer those questions in a rigorous, data-driven way is at the heart of physics. Physics teaches us how to solve new and difficult problems, and the problem solving skills developed by physicists can be used across many disciplines and types of inquiry.

In this guide, you will get a chance to dive deeper into what it means to study physics, what types of careers are available to physicists, and how Southern Methodist University is preparing their physics graduate students for meaningful careers in the academic, private, and public sectors.

A Look at the Latest Research in Fundamental Physics

The deepest questions about reality and our cosmos remain as great as ever, and that opens a tremendous opportunity for graduate students to engage in the cutting-edge, meaningful research.

High profile research of today is exploring questions about dark matter, dark energy, gravity, origin of the observed matter, the nature of time, the paucity of antimatter in the universe, and many-many more.

SMU and Cutting-Edge Research Activity

SMU physicists are active in studying the origin of mass, mapping the properties of elusive and mysterious neutrinos, looking for the source of dark matter, studying the origin and expansion of the universe, and crafting a powerful and consistent theoretical framework to explain the fundamental laws of the universe.

The work taking place at SMU can be divided into two general categories.

1. High Energy Physics (HEP) 

The SMU High Energy Particle Physics group studies the properties of the most fundamental constituents of matter and the laws governing their behavior. Some of the most important questions today concern the origin of elementary particle masses and the difference between matter and anti-matter in the universe. Several large accelerator-based experiments address these questions. SMU scientists played the key role in the groundbreaking discovery of the Higgs boson, the fundamental particle that explains existence of stable atoms. This renowned discovery received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2013.

SMU physicists work on the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland (pictured left) and on the D0 and NOνA experiments based at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois (pictured right). All of these areas touch on leading questions that challenge modern physics.

2. Cosmology and Astrophysics 

The SMU Cosmology and Astrophysics group is involved in searching for answers to some of the biggest puzzles in physics today: What is the nature of dark matter? What is driving the accelerated expansion of the universe? What happened in the earliest moments of the universe?

SMU physicists work deep underground in SNOLAB in Sudbury, Canada looking for evidence of dark matter particles (pictured left), or on top of mountains at McDonald Observatory (pictured middle) and Kitt Peak National Observatory, observing the universe's expansion (pictured right). They also carry out theoretical calculations to study what the cosmic microwave background radiation (the "afterglow of the big bang") can teach us about the contents, history, and evolution of the universe.

Advanced methods for data analysis and machine learning

SMU physicists in both experimental and theoretical groups also work with various aspects of large-scale data analysis, including multivariate statistics and machine learning. The SMU experimentalists use advanced methods for statistical analysis and pattern recognition to look for production of rare particles, such as pairs of Higgs bosons. The key objective of the theoretical effort at SMU is to construct detailed models of the inner structure of protons and nuclei using diverse data from world experiments. Working with high-performance computers at SMU and CERN, among other places, allows the SMU physicists to extract relevant information from the complicated multi-parameter data they receive.

Pursuing a Career in Physics: A World of Opportunities

Studying physics at the graduate level opens the door to career success both in and out of the field of physics. This is primarily because physicists are problem-solvers: studying physics requires people to develop creative imagination, analytical thinking, and experimental perseverance.

Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that employment projections for physicists are quite strong: employment opportunities are expected to grow by 14% in the next 10 years, much faster than the average for all occupations. In 2017, the median annual wage for physicists was over $118,000.

Here are just a few of the industries you can enter with a graduate degree in physics:

• Physics
• Engineering
• Computer Science
• Secondary and Post-Secondary Education
• Finance
• Business
• Medicine

The American Institute of Physics has collected detailed data listing the employers, job titles, and types of industries that Physics Ph.D. recipients are pursuing after graduation.

Our alumni have an outstanding record of success in finding jobs after earning their degrees. Because SMU has an established history of training excellent students, our recent Ph.D. graduates took prestigious postdoc positions with Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory in California (pictured upper-left), Caltech (pictured upper-right), the Fermi National Laboratory (pictured bottom-left) and University of Barcelona in Spain (pictured bottom-right).

Our graduates go on to work in a variety of industries and positions. Here is a quick glance at where SMU Physics Ph.D. graduates from 2000 onward have gone for post-doctoral work and beyond.

Chart of Alumni and current positions

Learn About SMU’s Ph.D. Program in Physics

As we described, the globally recognized Ph.D. program at SMU offers a focus on particle physics, including collider and neutrino physics, as well as astrophysics. Our physicists work at SMU and across the globe, making national and international impact with their work and helping to train and prepare the next generation of creative, innovative, and generative scientists.

Students in the Ph.D. program benefit from small classes, accessible faculty and research staff, and multi-faceted opportunities for experimental and theoretical research. Our department provides an intellectually stimulating research environment where our graduate students can participate in and make substantive contributions to frontier research projects.

Here’s what one of our current graduate students had to say about their time in the Physics program:

Many students begin research projects during their first year. All students in good standing receive teaching or research stipends during the academic year, along with tuition waivers. Summer support is also available. Students typically receive support for work as teaching assistants during their first two years. After they successfully complete the Ph.D. core proficiency exam, many students receive research support until completion of their thesis and degree.

The majority of our faculty members receive federal support for their research. This support enables us to fund Research Assistant positions and allow students to travel to topical conferences and workshops.

Meet the SMU Physics Thought Leaders

At SMU, we have over 20 world-class faculty working across many areas of physics. 

Experimental

Faculty in the SMU physics department work together with Ph.D. students on diverse areas of experimental research. Jodi Cooley's group prepares for a new round of highly sensitive measurements aiming to detect dark matter in the underground SNOLAB laboratory. Thomas Coan's group participates in the NOvA experiment that explores the origin of neutrino masses and looks for explanations of matter-antimatter symmetry. The SMU group on the ATLAS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (Allison McCarn Deiana, Robert Kehoe, Stephen Sekula, Ryszard Stroynowski, and Jingbo Ye) leads multi-prong efforts at the energy frontier of particle physics. Our ATLAS group participated in the spectacular discovery of the Higgs particle and at present uses heavy-quark flavors (bottom and charm) to probe the nature of the Higgs boson. Concurrently, Kehoe participates in large-scale surveys of distant galaxies using the Mid-Range Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) in order to understand the fundamental source driving the expansion of the universe. Ye leads a laboratory at SMU that develops advanced optoelectronics hardware for robust high-volume data transfer in the radiation-affected environment existing inside the LHC detectors. 

Theoretical

Joel Meyers is a theoretical astrophysicist who studies a variety of pressing topics, including phenomena in the early universe and observations of the cosmic microwave background. The expertise of Pavel Nadolsky and Fredrick Olness resides in theory of quantum chromodynamics (QCD).  They carry out theoretical computations to predict scattering of elementary particles at modern colliders, including interactions of massive quarks and all-order summation of perturbative series in quantum field theory. Their other effort focuses on the multivariate statistical analysis by CTEQ collaboration of diverse experimental data with the goal to understand the internal structure of protons, neutrons, and atomic nuclei. Roberto Vega, our resident expert in formal aspects of particle phenomenology, develops theoretical models of electroweak symmetry breaking, examines strategies to look for Higgs-like particles, and studies effective Lagrangians for extensions of the Standard Model. 

Meet More of the Physics Graduate Students at SMU

As you move your cursor over the faces of our former students, you will learn more about the depth and type of research real people are investigating into here at SMU. From founding their own companies to teaching and researching, SMU physics graduates continue to make valuable contributions to the field.