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The Department of Physics and Astronomy at Vanderbilt University offers the Masters of Science Degree both in Physics and Astronomy, the Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Physics and, together with the Peabody School of Education, the Masters of Arts in Teaching Degree. The Masters Degree in Medical Physics is now offered through the School of Medicine. The Department presently has 30 full-time faculty, approximately an equal number of research faculty, and about 70 graduate students and 30 graduate students from other graduate programs, who are supported by the department. This is large enough to offer a breadth of research areas while small enough to remain friendly and supportive.

The research efforts of the Department are supported by over $6 million in external funding annually. The Department houses the W. M. Keck Free Electron Laser Center, and a solid-state tunable femtosecond laser system spanning the wavelengths from UV to mid-infrared. The Center supports research in materials physics, laser development, biological physics, biology, engineering, and medical applications. The Arthur J. Dyer Observatory is located ten miles south of campus. The Joint Institute for Heavy-Ion Physics is run jointly by Vanderbilt, the University of Tennessee, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Two inter-disciplinary centers, The Vanderbilt Institute for Nanoscale Science and Engineering (VINSE) and the Vanderbilt Institute for Integrative BioSystems Research and Education (VIIBRE), in which the Department plays a central role, further expand the opportunities for students to engage in cutting edge research. Students may also conduct research in medical physics with faculty in the Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science (VUIIS). The variety of forefront physics initiatives being pursued in the Department produces a lively and stimulating atmosphere for learning. Other research areas include: elementary particle physics, nuclear physics, computational physics and cosmology.

The tradition of quality education and the intellectual atmosphere of the arts, humanities, and social sciences are very much a part of the university. This is complemented by the cutting edge research underway in the sciences, in engineering, and in medicine, knit together by a commitment to multi-disciplinary research.

Sincerely,
Prof. Robert Scherrer, Department Chair
Prof. Richard Haglund, Director of Graduate Studies