- #1
pinkfishegg
- 57
- 3
Hello,
I'm a rising junior undergraduate physics major and I'd like to get some kind of green job in physics, maybe in alternative energy. I was wondering what kind of options are out there. I switched majors a few times from theater to environmental science to physics and decided to stick with physics rather than envirosci because I felt I wasn't learned that much science in my environmental science course (you know, in a lot of our labs we were measuring how much energy people wasted, and putting up signs telling them to turn off their computer, something you could easily do in an ecology club that felt like a waste of time college level science course.) and I felt that physics would give me more flexibility.
Anyway, I'm considering physics grad school, or maybe another science grad school and was wondering how I could combine my interest with physics with my interest in alternative energy. I don't really want to go into academia (at least as a full time professor), and don't have a high enough gpa (about a 3.1). I'm also considering taking some time off before going to graduate school . I've looked through web postings for physics jobs and most of them require a phd. I'm not really sure where to look for bachelor's level jobs in the green industry that undergraduate physics majors can do.
As far as graduate schools go what kind of fields would lead to jobs in alternative energy? I've heard that both nuclear and plasma physicists are developing new forms of alternative energies but I don't know enough about these fields to know if I'd like to pursue them. I've done research so far in astrophysics and solid state physics but haven't learned much about other fields. I find astronomy interesting in theory but I'm not into the hours and hours of programming I need to do every day. I enjoy the experimental aspect of the solid state physics research I'm doing but find it less interesting in theory (although that may be partly because the books I'm reading on solid state discuss a lot of upper level quantuum mechanics ideas that I'm unfamiliar with.) Anyway experimental research in a field I like would be great, I'm just not sure which fields would allow me to go into alternative energy.
Some engineering degrees also seem like they'd allow me to work in green industries. I've briefly looked into environmental engineering but it looks like its more involved with chemistry and biology than physics.Are there any environmental engineers here that can attest to that? I'm not sure if engineering is really for me or not since I hated both of the circuits classes I took and my professors tell me I have more of a scientists mentality than an engineers . However, I don't want to dismiss all engineering fields based on my experiences with circuitry alone and was wondering which ones would allow me to help the environment.)
Also what kind of combined fields of physics/other science would land jobs in alternative energy? I've heard that geophysicists make a lot of contributions but I don't know much about their field. It seems to be a lot more geology than physics but I admit that I have a very shallow understanding of it. Would biophysicists be involved in green energy? So far I'm working a physics major, a math minor, and a history minor. I've taken a biology course(intro evolutionary biology) and an environmental science course. I love physics, put up with math and computer science, and am starting to miss the other sciences. I took chemistry in high school (with a pretty bad teacher) and have been watching some online videos to understand the basic ideas but really don't know much about it.
Does anyone work in a "green industry"? What kind of field do you work in and what degree do you have?
I'm a rising junior undergraduate physics major and I'd like to get some kind of green job in physics, maybe in alternative energy. I was wondering what kind of options are out there. I switched majors a few times from theater to environmental science to physics and decided to stick with physics rather than envirosci because I felt I wasn't learned that much science in my environmental science course (you know, in a lot of our labs we were measuring how much energy people wasted, and putting up signs telling them to turn off their computer, something you could easily do in an ecology club that felt like a waste of time college level science course.) and I felt that physics would give me more flexibility.
Anyway, I'm considering physics grad school, or maybe another science grad school and was wondering how I could combine my interest with physics with my interest in alternative energy. I don't really want to go into academia (at least as a full time professor), and don't have a high enough gpa (about a 3.1). I'm also considering taking some time off before going to graduate school . I've looked through web postings for physics jobs and most of them require a phd. I'm not really sure where to look for bachelor's level jobs in the green industry that undergraduate physics majors can do.
As far as graduate schools go what kind of fields would lead to jobs in alternative energy? I've heard that both nuclear and plasma physicists are developing new forms of alternative energies but I don't know enough about these fields to know if I'd like to pursue them. I've done research so far in astrophysics and solid state physics but haven't learned much about other fields. I find astronomy interesting in theory but I'm not into the hours and hours of programming I need to do every day. I enjoy the experimental aspect of the solid state physics research I'm doing but find it less interesting in theory (although that may be partly because the books I'm reading on solid state discuss a lot of upper level quantuum mechanics ideas that I'm unfamiliar with.) Anyway experimental research in a field I like would be great, I'm just not sure which fields would allow me to go into alternative energy.
Some engineering degrees also seem like they'd allow me to work in green industries. I've briefly looked into environmental engineering but it looks like its more involved with chemistry and biology than physics.Are there any environmental engineers here that can attest to that? I'm not sure if engineering is really for me or not since I hated both of the circuits classes I took and my professors tell me I have more of a scientists mentality than an engineers . However, I don't want to dismiss all engineering fields based on my experiences with circuitry alone and was wondering which ones would allow me to help the environment.)
Also what kind of combined fields of physics/other science would land jobs in alternative energy? I've heard that geophysicists make a lot of contributions but I don't know much about their field. It seems to be a lot more geology than physics but I admit that I have a very shallow understanding of it. Would biophysicists be involved in green energy? So far I'm working a physics major, a math minor, and a history minor. I've taken a biology course(intro evolutionary biology) and an environmental science course. I love physics, put up with math and computer science, and am starting to miss the other sciences. I took chemistry in high school (with a pretty bad teacher) and have been watching some online videos to understand the basic ideas but really don't know much about it.
Does anyone work in a "green industry"? What kind of field do you work in and what degree do you have?