Is ERAU a Good Choice for a Master's in Engineering Physics?

[Shackleford]

What sets an "engineering physics" degree apart from a physics or engineering degree? I will graduate next Spring with a B.S. Mathematics and Physics minor.

Is ERAU a well-respected university?

http://www.erau.edu/db/degrees/ms-engineeringphysics.html

 

[Shackleford]

Anyone?

Anyone know of good engineering physics programs?

 

[Shackleford]

Is it in between physics and engineering? Is it partly theoretical and partly applied? Or is it just interdisciplinary?

I'll see if I can find Engineering Physics programs across the country and take a peak at their curriculum.

 

[Mindscrape]

I know a professor at embry riddle, and also a student who did the masters you listed. I know that embry riddle is a destination school for aero engineers, but honestly even with the two physicists I know I have no idea how their physics department is ranked. This is the first year the physics department offers a PhD track, and I do not really know if that is for a reason or not. Still, if you want to go into an aero field, that's a great school for you.

 

[Shackleford]

I know a professor at embry riddle, and also a student who did the masters you listed. I know that embry riddle is a destination school for aero engineers, but honestly even with the two physicists I know I have no idea how their physics department is ranked. This is the first year the physics department offers a PhD track, and I do not really know if that is for a reason or not. Still, if you want to go into an aero field, that's a great school for you.

At the Daytona Campus?

Aerospace is an option as I have a feeling commercial spaceflight will be a burgeoning industry in the next few decades.

I'm not sure of the field I want, but I would like to learn theory along with application, maybe not necessarily either or as in physics versus engineering. Applied math is still at the top, though, for me. I think Materials Science and Engineering would be interesting.

 

[Mindscrape]

Yeah, I didn't know there was another campus other than in Daytona. From what I gather the school is mostly split between pilots and engineers. If you did a degree there it would be heavily engineering oriented.

 

[Shackleford]

Yeah, I didn't know there was another campus other than in Daytona. From what I gather the school is mostly split between pilots and engineers. If you did a degree there it would be heavily engineering oriented.

Yeah, I figured that. University of North Texas has a program. That's probably the closest one to me and it's in my state. I wouldn't have to pay Out-of-State tuition or anything. I found one in Oklahoma, Virginia, George Mason, etc.

 

[Shackleford]

This is exactly my goal.

http://www.engr.uga.edu/degrees/physics.html

An engineering physicist designs, develops and supervises the construction of new equipment, applying the knowledge of engineering and physics to develop new engineering methods and principles. The engineering physicist completes the link between the pure scientist and the engineer by being able to understand the theory of science and to relate it to the practical problems of engineering. The University of Georgia's graduate certificate program in engineering physics is designed to give graduate students the opportunity to document their educational achievement in advanced engineering and physics. The program will be of special interest to students wishing to combine theoretical and practical understanding of the physical sciences and engineering systems.

 

[DrummingAtom]

This is exactly my goal.

http://www.engr.uga.edu/degrees/physics.html

That quote from that site is exactly what I want too, minus the biological and agricultural engineering. =) I'm an EE guy.

So you're interested in biological and agricultural engineering? You can probably find other programs that have professors from a physics background that specialize in those disciplines. At my university (undergrad), my EE department has several groups that are pretty much applied physics or "engineering physics" if you will. We also have a bunch of professors in EE that are physicists.

In my opinion, engineering physics seems like a strange label because it varies so much between universities. For instance, at my school an engineering physics degree is a physics degree with 2 engineering classes. Another school I was interested in has an engineering physics degree that is an engineering degree with 3 upper level physics classes.

If I were you I would start looking at the professors working in the programs you want, not the labels of the programs. Email those professors and see if it fits your interests. One of the EE professors I contacted at my school made me solidify my decision to do EE because he said "I would get plenty of physics" working with his group.

Hope that helps. Good luck.

 

[Shackleford]

That quote from that site is exactly what I want too, minus the biological and agricultural engineering. =) I'm an EE guy.

So you're interested in biological and agricultural engineering? You can probably find other programs that have professors from a physics background that specialize in those disciplines. At my university (undergrad), my EE department has several groups that are pretty much applied physics or "engineering physics" if you will. We also have a bunch of professors in EE that are physicists.

In my opinion, engineering physics seems like a strange label because it varies so much between universities. For instance, at my school an engineering physics degree is a physics degree with 2 engineering classes. Another school I was interested in has an engineering physics degree that is an engineering degree with 3 upper level physics classes.

If I were you I would start looking at the professors working in the programs you want, not the labels of the programs. Email those professors and see if it fits your interests. One of the EE professors I contacted at my school made me solidify my decision to do EE because he said "I would get plenty of physics" working with his group.

Hope that helps. Good luck.

Oh, sorry. No, I'm not interested in biological or agricultural engineering. I just did a search for engineering physics and that was one of the results. The summary of engineering physics is excellent, in my opinion. That's why I posted it.

First, I'm going to evaluate the coursework and see if that interests me. Then, I could email a professor or two if I'm seriously interested. Thanks for the advice.

 

[Mindscrape]

This is exactly my goal.

http://www.engr.uga.edu/degrees/physics.html

If that's your goal then ERAU would be a good school for you. Of course, you should do some research on what the current research projects are and talk with any professor who does research you'd be interested in.

 

[Shackleford]

If that's your goal then ERAU would be a good school for you. Of course, you should do some research on what the current research projects are and talk with any professor who does research you'd be interested in.

Well, ERAU is limited to aerospace. There are no Engineering Physics graduate programs in Texas, according to my repeated search. Out-of-state schools are out-of-the-question since Out-of-State tuition is entirely cost-prohibitive. It kind of ticks me off.

The engineering physicist completes the link between the pure scientist and the engineer by being able to understand the theory of science and to relate it to the practical problems of engineering.

 

[DrummingAtom]

Well, ERAU is limited to aerospace. There are no Engineering Physics graduate programs in Texas, according to my repeated search. Out-of-state schools are out-of-the-question since Out-of-State tuition is entirely cost-prohibitive. It kind of ticks me off.

Yeah, I ran into this problem too so I feel your pain. I can't leave state either (only 3 schools that were relevant to choose from) which is why I had to really dig to find out information on which program would best fit me. You might even find your perfect fit under an engineering *or* a physics program.

What I did was listed a bunch of areas I'm interested in and then searched the hell outta each school. Research groups, courses that interest me, professors, etc. It took me about a month to research those 3 schools and email the professors. I then made lists of all the information I found and slowly started narrowing in on what I wanted. I even found a CS/applied math program that had a lot of what I was looking for.

Don't think labels of degrees because that's what got me into trouble and I wasted a lot of time searching with practically no result. I'm not trying to talk down to you by saying all this but you seem caught up on the labels. The quote you said about the "engineering physicist" is what I was imagining myself wanting to be too. But I've only seen a couple of job posts for an actual engineering physicist and of those I've seen they want either an engineering or a physics degree.

It sounds like you have a lot of interests as do I, if I could I would triple major in Physics, EE, and Applied Math and double minor in Chemistry and CS. Obviously, this isn't very realistic (or is it? haha, joking..). But at some point you got to pick what you want to do with your degree. For you it's even more of a challenge because you're pursuing a grad degree which is specializing much more than a bachelor's. Choose your own adventure and good luck with your decision.

 

[Mindscrape]

Well, ERAU is limited to aerospace. There are no Engineering Physics graduate programs in Texas, according to my repeated search. Out-of-state schools are out-of-the-question since Out-of-State tuition is entirely cost-prohibitive. It kind of ticks me off.

My advisers used to say that if you want a master's, apply to a PhD program and then leave after you've accomplished enough for your master's, would this work? I thought the master's in Daytona was funded through the school anyway, but maybe not with the new PhD program. What semester would you want to apply to? Most schools have already had their application deadlines for fall '11.

 

[Shackleford]

My advisers used to say that if you want a master's, apply to a PhD program and then leave after you've accomplished enough for your master's, would this work? I thought the master's in Daytona was funded through the school anyway, but maybe not with the new PhD program. What semester would you want to apply to? Most schools have already had their application deadlines for fall '11.

I graduate next Spring. I probably won't be able to start graduate school Fall 2012, because I have to procure funding first!