A LETTER FROM THE CHAIR

Physics is a fundamental discipline concerned with the properties of matter and energy on scales that range from the whole universe to the tiniest elementary particles. Theories of physics underlie important practical applications in science, engineering, and medicine.

The University at Buffalo Department of Physics has vigorous research programs in condensed matter and materials physics; high and intermediate energy physics; and applied physics, including atmospheric, computational, quantum optics, materials, and medical applications. Challenging opportunities exist for graduate students to work on interesting problems, both fundamental and applied, experimental and theoretical, and at the master's and doctoral levels, in the many areas described in this brochure. Many of our students are involved in materials research and development through the Center for Advanced Photonic and Electronic Materials; others work on medical physics at the Toshiba Stroke Research Center and the Hauptman-Woodward Institute or spend time at national and industrial laboratories and other institutes in pursuit of their doctoral studies.

I hope you will take time to review these opportunities, visit our home page at http://www.physics.buffalo.edu, and call us or visit our department for further information. I do hope you will decide to include our department in your plans for graduate study.

Richard J. Gonsalves Chair Department of Physics

The Molecular Beam Epitaxy System is used to fabricate nanostructures of semiconductor materials, which are studied by several research groups associated with the Center for Advanced Photonic and Electronic Materials.

Several groups in the physics department routinely visit and utilize the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (NHMFL) in Tallahassee, Florida. Graduate students are shown at left with the facility's 30 Tesla Magnet.

The Department of Physics at the University at Buffalo offers advanced degrees that provide opportunities to pursue a wide range of careers, including teaching and research. The department is part of the most comprehensive graduate center, having close to 25,000 students, in the State University of New York system. Equipped with major new research facilities, Raman spectroscopy, SQUID magnetometer, and seventeen Tesla superconducting magnets the Department of Physics' modern building is located on the university's North Campus, a more than $1 billion investment on a tract of 1,600 acres located approximately three miles north of the city. The staff of twenty-two full-time faculty is composed of a pleasant mixture of young, enthusiastic researchers and well-established scientists. More than seventy graduate students are presently pursuing degrees.

An excellent electronics shop, a machine shop, and a cryogenic facility serve the department. Shared access to a large-system computing environment is available to all students. In addition, the department has its own workstation computer lab equipped with more than ten state-of- the-art SUN workstations. Biophysical facilities at Roswell Park Cancer Institute and bio- medical facilities at UB's School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences are used by members of the department and their students. Faculty members and graduate students participate in interdisciplinary research as part of the Center for Advanced Photonic and Electronic Materials and are users of national and international facilities, such as Fermilab, CERN, the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, free-electron laser facilities at the University of California at Santa Barbara and Vanderbilt University, the National Synchrotron Light Source at Brookhaven National Laboratory, the Supercomputer Facility at Cornell University, Cornell Nanofabrication Facility, Sandia National Lab, Army Research Lab, and Naval Research Lab. Major pieces of equipment in the research laboratories include lasers, a Molecular Beam Epitaxy System, dilution refrigerators, a scanning tunneling microscope, an infrared spectrometer, high-pressure diamond-anvil cells, a photoluminescence spectrometer, and MOCVD equipment. The university also has an extensive library system containing more than 3 million volumes.

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A PSI 1410 helium liquefier provides a steady supply of liquid helium for low-temperature experiments. The department also has a large storage dewar for liquid nitrogen.

Graduate students working in the advanced laboratory.

A modern interventional digital-subtraction angiographic X-ray imaging suite.

Professor Duoliang Lin discusses research problems with a group of students.

Graduate students have access to the physics department's graduate student lab, as well as extensive computing resources elsewhere on campus.

DEGREES OFFERED  The Department of Physics offers programs leading to the degrees of master of science (M.S.) and doctor of philosophy (Ph.D.). Members of the faculty are prepared to supervise research in condensed matter and materials physics; high and intermediate energy physics; and applied physics, including atmospheric, computational, quantum optics, materials, and medical applications. The Ph.D. degree requires original research and a dissertation, which must be successfully defended. Interdisciplinary programs may also be arranged, depending on the particular interests of the student and research director.

FIRST-YEAR PROGRAM  Upon arrival, new graduate students are given an examination to assess their level of preparation for graduate study. The results are used for advisement to help students select their first-semester courses. Those who do not have sufficient knowledge in a given area of physics as shown by the results of these tests will be required to strengthen their background by taking one or more remedial courses. An individual advisor assists the student in selecting the appropriate courses, determined by the student's interests and abilities. A typical first-semester graduate student on assistantship takes three basic graduate-level courses; unsupported students are required to take four courses. See Degree Requirements on page 8 and Graduate Courses on pages 10­12.

The department views an advanced degree in physics primarily as a research degree, so the choice of a research advisor is an important decision for any graduate student. Students are encouraged to speak informally with as many faculty members as possible and attend weekly seminars and colloquia in which the faculty present their current research. Assistance is available to those having difficulty with this decision. However, it is to the student's advantage to select a research advisor at the earliest possible date.

GRADUATE PROGRAM OPTIONS  In addition to the more traditional programs in physics, the department has developed and is in the process of developing program options within physics that graduate students might find appealing. These options have been created in response to market demand for physicists and the changing role of physics as an important contributor to other basic sciences and engineering. Please keep in mind that these are program options and not degree-granting programs.

MEDICAL PHYSICS PROGRAM OPTION
The Medical Physics Program offers a full range of training with research in many areas of medical physics and practical training as part of a medical physics residency program available to physics graduate students. Students have the advantage of access to the resources of the largest public university in the state with ties to engineering and basic sciences departments, and a multihospital clinical affiliation. Yet because we have a small program, we can maintain an intimate atmosphere with close contact between faculty and students, and where much of the training is accomplished through tutorial and individual sessions.

Students in this program have the option to meet their formal academic requirements in a variety of ways. Students must meet the standard requirements for a degree in physics while undertaking research and practical training in medical physics. Clinical experience is provided through the Departments of Radiology and Neurosurgery, both clinical departments in the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences of which the Division of Radiation Physics is an integral part.

A newly opened research building on the South Campus now houses additional offices and research laboratories for the Medical Physics Program in the Toshiba Stroke Research Center, begun with a major grant of $3.6 million from Toshiba Corporation in the form of new digital
angiography equipment dedicated to research. Additional grants of foundation, corporate, and government support have helped establish this exciting new multidisciplinary research center. The current research interests of the faculty involve all areas of medical physics, with primary emphasis on diagnostic imaging and interventional procedures.

In addition to the facilities of the Toshiba Stroke Research Center, most clinical facilities of the Departments of Radiology and Neurosurgery are available for research; equipment includes a variety of modern medical radiographic and fluoroscopic machines, computed tomography and ultrasound scanners, various radioisotope sources, and nuclear medicine cameras. Specialized research facilities include Unix workstations, real-time pipeline image processors, PCs, video digitizers, electrometers, an abundance of radiation-detection equipment, complete hemodynamics and flow laboratory, an electronics laboratory, and shop.

MATERIALS PHYSICS PROGRAM OPTION
Advanced materials play an important role in our high-technology society. The development of such materials and structures requires a range of expertise that crosses the boundaries of traditional disciplines.

The Center for Advanced Photonic and Electronic Materials (CAPEM) was formed in January 1997 as an umbrella organization to foster interaction and collaboration among the diverse research and development activities at the University at Buffalo in the areas of photonic and electronic materials, and to facilitate cooperative multidisciplinary activities and multi-investigator research projects. Targeted areas of investigation include compound semiconductor materials, structures, and devices; novel conductors, including molecular organic conductors and high-temperature oxide superconductors; and polymeric materials, primarily for photonic applications. CAPEM brings together researchers from the Departments of Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Mathematics, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, and Physics. The Photonics Research Laboratory is affiliated with the center. CAPEM researchers undertake both basic and applied research projects in the focus areas, as well as in other related areas.

The center, in collaboration with the Departments of Physics, Chemistry, Electrical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, and Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, has developed a "Photonic and Electronic Materials" Ph.D. option. Special courses will be offered beginning in spring 1999. Graduate students in physics may choose this option and obtain a Ph.D. in physics, with a specialization in materials.

COMPUTATIONAL PHYSICS PROGRAM OPTION
This program, currently under development, offers considerable breadth, and is designed to prepare students to carry out numerical calculations and simulations to model phenomena that can be mathematically analyzed. Current research areas in computational physics are statistical and condensed-matter physics, materials science, nonlinear dynamics, and high- energy physics. A number of faculty members are involved in computational physics projects of significant interest and importance to academic research and to research and development in the industrial sector. Many of these ongoing activities are closely tied to concurrent experimental efforts with other departments on campus, at other institutions, and at such national laboratories as Sandia and Brookhaven.

Current major projects include Monte Carlo simulations of lattice-gauge theories and of vortex motion in Type II superconductors, molecular dynamics simulations of two-dimensional melting, the particle dynamical study of acoustic shocks to detect buried plastic land mines, study of slow relaxation in glassy systems via continued fraction-based approaches, simulations of droplet formation in ferrofluids, and dynamical simulations to predict the onset of instabilities in granular slopes.

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The Graduate School of the University at Buffalo requires a baccalaureate degree or its equivalent for admission. Applicants should also demonstrate aptitude in the physical sciences and mathematics, as evidenced by their undergraduate transcripts.

Graduate Record Examination (GRE) scores and three letters of recommendation are also required. The score received on the GRE Physics Subject Test is particularly useful but not required.

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The 10-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain reflector telescope housed in the observatory on the roof of Fronczak Hall.

The department recognizes the educational value of the teaching process. Entering students are normally offered teaching assistantships, usually in the freshman physics program. Teaching assistants supervise small recitation and/or laboratory sections for no more than six contact hours a week. Total time required, including grading, office hours, and preparation, is typically fifteen to twenty hours per week.

The teaching assistantship appointment is for a ten-month period beginning in late August, and stipends are competitive with other Ph.D. programs in the country. Ph.D. students in good standing with the department are normally supported for an additional month in the summer.

Research assistantships, provided by individual research directors for their advanced students, allow the students to devote full time to thesis research.

Students who receive assistantships in the department during the academic year also receive tuition scholarships in the amount of the full-time tuition charges, as well as university-paid student health insurance. 

First-year graduate-assistant support includes tuition waivers and financial support for travel to present research at national scientific meetings, as well as for textbooks and other expenses.

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Three parts of a custom-made apparatus fabricated at the department's Machine Shop. The dime at bottom (diameter equal to 1.2 cm) is shown for scale.

The department's Machine Shop is a modern facility staffed by skilled machinists. A smaller shop used exclusively by students is available twenty-four hours a day.

MASTER OF SCIENCE  Two routes may be taken by the student who wishes to gain a master's degree in physics. In both options, a minimum of 30 credit hours of courses at the graduate level is required. The overall average must be "B" or better for all courses taken as a graduate student. In addition, the student is required to pass Part I of the qualifying examination based on subjects required in the undergraduate degree program.

THESIS OPTION
In the thesis option, at least 18 credit hours of the student's complete program must be devoted to formal coursework, including the graduate laboratory, and the remainder to research culminating in a thesis. Students must pass an oral final examination that consists of a defense of the master's thesis.

NON-THESIS OPTION
In the non-thesis option, 15 credit hours of specified 500-level courses are required, along with 3 credit hours of graduate laboratory and 9 credit hours of courses exclusive of research, supervised teaching, and seminars, for a total of 27 credit hours of formal coursework. An additional 3 credit hours of graduate research culminating in a report are required. Students must pass an oral final examination that consists of a defense of the report.

DOCTOR OF PHIOLOSOPY  A minimum of 72 credit hours must be earned with at least 36 in graduate physics lecture courses, including 3 credit hours of graduate physics laboratory and 6 in other required 500-level courses. To ensure breadth in students' individual Ph.D. programs, the department evaluates their graduate work and may require them to take specific courses in related fields. Within eighteen months of enrollment, both parts of the qualifying exam must be passed. After an additional eighteen months, a short defense of the proposed Ph.D. project must be presented to the Ph.D. committee. A doctoral dissertation is required and will be accepted only if it is judged publishable in a refereed scientific journal. The final examination is oral and consists of a defense of the dissertation.

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The City of Buffalo

Some of downtown Buffalo's modern architecture can be seen where the Metro Rail emerges to street level.

The Maid of the Mist boat ride (inset) allows visitors to appreciate the majesty of Niagara Falls, a wonder of the world just twenty minutes from downtown.

Permanent and traveling exhibits are showcased at the Buffalo Museum of Science.

The Albright-Knox Art Gallery boasts an extensive collection of modern art.

The second-largest city in New York State, Buffalo is the hub of a metropolitan area of nearly 1.5 million people. Buffalo and its environs offer a wealth of scenic, recreational, and cultural opportunities that enrich university life. Buffalo has a first-rate symphony orchestra playing in a splendid concert hall designed by Eliel and Eero Saarinen; a renowned collection of twentieth-
century art in its Albright-Knox Art Gallery; a downtown theater district where resident professional companies, touring groups, and local performers mingle to create a lively atmosphere; a beautiful situation at the end of 250-mile-long Lake Erie; and another North American cultureCanadajust across the Niagara River from downtown.

Nearby, Niagara-on-the-Lake's Shaw Festival and New York State's Artpark are noted for spring and summer festivals of art, theater, and music. People from all over the world visit thundering Niagara Falls (twenty minutes from the University at Buffalo campuses). Canada's Stratford Festival and the Chautauqua Institution, an American cultural landmark, are within easy driving distance. Toronto, now one of the great cosmopolitan cities of North America, is two hours away by car.

The Metro Rail links downtown Buffalo with the university's South Campus. New hotels, office buildings, and pedestrian plazas have been developed along the transit line in the city center as Buffalo makes the transition from a manufacturing to a mixed economy. 

Buffalo's weather is moderated by the lake, which cools the city in summer and warms it in winter; the lake is also responsible for much of the snowmost of which falls in the hills south of the citythat gives the region its wintry reputation. Buffalo itself gets relatively little snow. Summers in Buffalo are, by measures of sunshine and temperature, the most pleasant in the Northeast.

For sports fans, the NFL Buffalo Bills play in an 80,000-seat stadium, and the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons play in North AmeriCare Park downtownwhere they have been known to outdraw some major-league baseball teams. Downtown's Marine Midland Arena, completed in 1996, is the venue for the NHL Buffalo Sabres, professional indoor soccer and lacrosse teams, and, starting in 1999, arena football.

Summer brings people to the lake for everything from evening excursion boat rides and competitive sailing, to fishing, picnicking, or just lazing on the beach. Those who seek real peace and quiet can find it hiking and camping, especially in the rugged 65,000-acre Allegany State Park, an hour south of Buffalo, where the most patient (and silent) nature lovers may spot black bears and wild turkeys in the hills. Winter is dependable for skiers on the slopes south of the city; skaters can enjoy a large outdoor rink downtown.

Buffalo offers the advantages of a city but is situated in one of the most scenic areas in New York State. The Niagara Gorge, the Boston Hills, Letchworth State Park, and the Finger Lakes are all nearby.

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The University

Students often meet to study or relax on the grounds alongside Lake LaSalle behind the Center for the Arts

Faculty and students have access to the latest technology and equipment, making UB an optimal choice for research and study.

The University at Buffalo is New York's premier public center for graduate and professional education, and the state's largest and most comprehensive public university. As the only public member in New York and New England of the prestigious Association of American Universities, the University at Buffalo stands in the first rank among the nation's research-intensive public universities.

The university was a private institution from 1846 until 1962, when it merged with the State University of New York system. The already mature University at Buffalo was a direct beneficiary of New York's aggressive investment in public higher education, and grew in size and ambition at a remarkable pace. This private-public heritage has endowed UB with a special character; it has the organizational profile of an Eastern private university on the scale of a large Midwestern public university.

>The professional schools at the university share an unusually research-intensive orientation with their counterpart faculties in the arts and sciences, and together have established an outstanding record of research, scholarship, and creative activity. It is a hallmark of the university's academic excellence that the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences has recently been ranked among the top ten in its field.

As a comprehensive research institution, UB supports faculty working at the forefront of such diverse fields as electronic music processing, psycholinguistics, and intercellular gating mechanisms. Grants and contracts for sponsored research during one recent fiscal year exceeded $284 million. An indication of the national recognition of the faculty is the full complement of grants and fellowships received from major institutions, such as the National Endowments for the Humanities and the Arts, Fulbright Fellowships, as well as the Guggenheim and Rockefeller Foundations.

Interaction between UB's professional schools and its College of Arts and Sciences gives graduate and professional education a particular richness and depth. This is further enriched by the nearly 2,000 international students80 percent of whom are graduate studentsfrom more than 100 countries who attend the university each year.

The university has two major campuses. The South Campus, located in the northeast corner of the City of Buffalo, was UB's main campus for most of the twentieth century. Now in the final stages of becoming its health sciences campus, it is connected to the city center and the waterfront by Metro Rail. The newer North Campus, located three miles from the South Campus, houses most of the non­health sciences divisions. Recent additions to the North Campus include the $50 million Center for the Arts, which houses the Departments of Art, Media Study, and Theatre and Dance, and a $45 million natural sciences building and lecture hall complex. In 1998,UB completed a townhouse-apartment complex adjacent to the North Campus specifically for its graduate students.

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