The Department of Physics has growing undergraduate and graduate programs.
Yet, its size remains comparatively small, allowing personalized interactions between students with all of its 12 faculty members. Not only do students participate in research projects early on, they often become authors in peer-reviewed publications and present their result in the regional and national conferences and workshops. In addition, our students are highly engaged; they regularly participate successfully in the University Physics Competition and contribute actively to various outreach activities.

The Department of Physics has a strong research focus on three research fields: materials (especially soft materials), computational physics, and physics education research. While this represents only a small subset of all existing physics fields, our focus makes us competitive and successful on the national level and beyond. Students can choose among a number of curricular options that prepares them for industrial, governmental, and academic careers.

The Fargo/Moorhead urban area contains three colleges with a physics program. Courses can be taken in each college through the Tri-College University. This increases the number of available courses to a level typical for large universities only.

Career Opportunities

A great variety of employment opportunities exist for physics majors who wish to pursue careers after obtaining a bachelor’s degree. Some find positions in industry or government. Many technical industries seek physics graduates for work in software development, engineering, science and lab technician positions, management and sales. A survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers of starting salaries offered by campus recruiters shows that students graduating with a bachelor’s degree in physics can make up to $64,000 per year when starting right out of school. More commonly, the survey found that physics graduates can expect a starting salary between $46,000 and $58,000.
As technology continues to develop, there will be a need for skilled people to make new discoveries in the basic sciences. Because of this, talented physics majors are encouraged to pursue the doctoral degree. Outstanding doctoral graduates in physics find research and teaching positions in universities or employment in government laboratories and research-oriented industries.An education in physics is so fundamental that it provides an excellent preparation for graduate education in nearly every technical field, including engineering. Additionally, North Dakota State University graduates in physics have entered medical schools and have studied law. One past graduate received a doctorate in biophysics and now works at the University of Minnesota Medical School; another is at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. Some of our recent graduates worked on advanced degrees in biomedical engineering, chemical physics, electrical engineering, solid-state physics, meteorology and radiological science. A number of recent graduates have pursued graduate studies at schools such as Cornell University, Michigan State University, the University of Minnesota, Carnegie Mellon University, Ohio State University, University of Illinois at Chicago, State University of New York Stony Brook and NDSU.If you have a technical career objective, examine it closely. You will find that a major in physics, with one of the options at NDSU, will give you the preparation you need to achieve your goals.