News Flash:

NCSU Astrophysics Researcher solves nearly 2000 year old mystery

In 185 A.D., Chinese astronomers noted a new "guest star" that appeared in the sky, by the 1960s, scientists determined that this was the first documented supernova and pinpointed its location, and in 2011, NC State Astrophysicist researcher, and alumni of the Physics grad program, Brian Williams tells us why it exploded, and why it's so large.

Link to article on the Physics news page
Link to to Brian's profile on the Alumni Profile page

Special Note: Fall 2012 Application:

Program Overview:

NCSU Physics has recently completed its faculty hiring goals of achieving near 100% research active faculty. This has resulted in significantly improved research support and improved quality and visibility of our research program with strengths in Astrophysics, Nuclear/High Energy Physics, Condensed Mater Physics/Nanoscience, Physics Education and new areas in Biophysics and Complex Matter. In turn, this research excellence allowed us to attract excellent students with a much improved rate of progress towards completion of a Ph.D. These improvements are very tangible when considering that the average subject GRE scores of enrolling US students improved over the last three years by ~200 points and the average GPA over the last two years is 3.75. Excellent individuals will be able to spread their wings at NCSU as far as they dare and are strongly encouraged to apply to become part of a dynamic and positive environment.

The Department of Physics at NC State is dedicated to providing an exciting intellectual climate for our graduate students by advancing the frontier in pure and applied physics and offering complementary courses. The Physics Department at NC State has a diverse research program with strengths in Nanoscience, Nuclear Physics, Astrophysics, Computational Physics, Optics, Biophysics, Materials Physics, and Physics Education Research. The graduate program supports ~110 students. Well equipped research labs are available in the recently renovated Riddick Hall, on the nationally renowned NC State Centennial Campus and at the Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory. This diversity of our research program offers excellent opportunities in most areas of contemporary physics. We are committed to designing a program of graduate study that is tailored to the background, experience and interests of individual students.

The goal of our program is to graduate fully functional professionals that can conceive and execute experiments, analyse the results, grasp their significance, and communicate them efficiently in peer-reviewed publications, posters and oral presentations.

44 research faculty engaged in forefront research in Nanoscience, Nuclear Physics, Astrophysics, Computational Physics, Optics, Biophysics, Materials Physics, and Physics Education Research Excellent graduate student to faculty ratio of 2.2:1 Faculty Excellence 5 NSF Presidential Young Investigators/Career Awards 19 American Physical Society Fellows 2 DOE Outstanding Junior Investigators 1 Fellow of the National Academy of Science 3 Fellows of American Association for the Advancement of Science 2 Fellows of the Optical Society of America 3 Fellows of the American Vacuum Society Numerous other individual faculty Awards and Honors $7,757,182 of externally federally funded research in 2008-09 — $9,596,493 in total research expenditures Major participant in national and international research collaborations.

The department awards both masters (MS) and doctoral (Ph.D.) degrees. Demographically, the department boasts a diversity that includes many international and female students. The African-American and native-American proportions are several times the national average for graduate physics programs.

Riddick Hall is home to the Physics Department offices as well as to the
majority of research and teaching space.

The department occupies most of Riddick Hall, a 64,000 square-foot building that contains numerous research and instructional laboratories, lecture rooms, offices, and a well-equipped instrument shop. In addition, the contiguous NC State Centennial Campus houses several departmental nano-science/materials laboratories, and the CHiPS Center in several buildings. Major facilities for nuclear physics research are provided by the Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory. General descriptions of our research programs may be found under our research area descriptions.

Physics Department Graduate Programs Office
py-grad-program@ncsu.edu
204 Riddick Hall
North Carolina State University
Raleigh, NC 27695-8202
Phone 919-515-8706, fax: 919-515-3099

Link to Graduate Program Brochure [PDF]  |  Link to Grad Accomplishments