University of Massachusetts Boston

The UMass Boston Applied Physics Master’s Program is built around the idea that physics is an approach to thinking about and solving problems rather than a specific set of skills. Our goal is to train students in this approach and give them a general toolbox of techniques that will allow them to pursue quantitative problems, regardless of the specific fields in which they find themselves. To that end, the curriculum for the program is a balance of theoretical and experimental courses, simultaneously sharpening students understanding of phenomena, the theoretical models that explain them, the measurements that illuminate them, and, most importantly, the connections between the phenomena, the measurements and the models.

This generalist approach serves a broad spectrum of student needs. As a result, we seek students from a range of backgrounds. Some of our students come to us straight out of undergraduate physics programs, unsatisfied with their bachelor's level understanding but not necessarily ready to commit to the five to ten years of a PhD program. Others come from the Massachusetts technical community where they have found that their further professional advancement is hindered by their lack of a post graduate degree, experiencing the so called parchment ceiling. Many foreign students use our program to normalize their training to American academic standards on their way to PhDs at other institutions, bridging between the academic systems of their home countries and that of the United States. We also serve students who are moving between fields: students who having trained in one discipline and wish to transition to physics.