Requirements for the Master of Arts (M.A.) degree are thirty-six semester hours, including at least eighteen hours of 5000-level courses (of which twelve must be from Ph.D. core courses) and an oral examination or the Ph.D. qualifying examination. The Physics Department does not have a foreign language requirement for the master’s degrees.

Students working toward an M.A. degree are required to register for PHY 5180 Graduate Physics Colloquium each semester, until two semester hours have been completed.

The Department of Physics also offers the M.A. degree with a specialty in environmental physics. In addition to the admission requirements listed above, the following regulations also apply:

1. The student’s Advisory Committee shall include one member of the physical sciences faculty, active in the Department of Environmental Studies.
2. A minimum of eighteen hours of graduate-level physics (twelve semester hours of 5000-level physics) is required.
3. Six semester hours of graduate-level course work in environmental studies are required.
4. Six semester hours of research PHY 5V99 Thesis are required for the thesis with the research problem area being in environmental physics.

Additional information concerning the M.A. degree with a spec­ialty in environmental physics may be obtained from the chairperson of the department.