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Research plays an ever increasing role within the Department at both the graduate and the undergraduate level. With the same number of full-time faculty, the amount of external research funding in Physics and Astronomy at KU has increased by a factor of 15 since 1981.


Recent MS and PhD graduates have gone on to a variety of positions ranging from a postdoctoral appointment at the Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena to a faculty position at Washburn University in Topeka to staff positions at Raytheon, Space Telescope Science Institute and Hughes. Undergraduate alumni are currently attending graduate school (no.) at Berkeley (4), Cal Tech (3), Michigan (2), Wisconsin (4), Baylor, Boston University, UC-San Francisco, Colorado, Columbia, Cornell, Harvard, KU, Michigan State, MIT, Northwestern, NYU, Texas A&M, and Washington University, St. Louis.

For all KU Programs, click on
Doctoral Degrees and Mean Time to

Degree for FY2004-2006


For Physics Alone:
Doctoral Program FY 2004 -
FY 2006 Doctoral Degree Count for
Full-Time and Part-Time Students		 Median
Time to Degree
(in years)
for Full-Time and
Part-Time Students		 FY 2004 -
FY 2006 Doctoral Degree Count for
Full-Time Students		 Median
Time to Degree
(in years)
for Full-Time Students Only
Physics 8 5.9 8 5.9


Over the last 7 years (2001-2007), no school in the Big 12 has garnered more Goldwater Scholarships (20) than the University of Kansas or Kansas State. Within Physics and/or Astronomy, no Department has had more majors (10) receive Goldwater Scholarships than the Department of Physics & Astronomy at KU. Since 1993, 16 majors within the Department have received Goldwater Scholarships.

2001-2007
UNIVERSITY
UNIVERSITY TOTAL
PHYSICS ASTRONOMY
KANSAS
20
10
KANSAS STATE
20
3
OKLAHOMA
16
5
TEXAS A & M
15
3
TEXAS TECH
12
0
COLORADO
12
6
TEXAS
10
0
NEBRASKA
8
0
MISSOURI
7
2
OKLAHOMA STATE
7
1
IOWA STATE
5
0
BAYLOR
4
0

CLASS of 1913!?!

For two consecutive years (2004-2005), graduating seniors (Sarah Feldt and Josh Meyers) from the Department of Physics & Astronomy have been awarded the Class of 1913 Award. This Chancellor's Award is given annually to a graduating senior man and a graduating senior woman who, by his or her evidenced intelligence, devotion to studies, and personal character, gives promise of usefulness to society. The ten winners of Chancellor's Awards share the platform with the Chancellor at graduation.
 

KEMPER FELLOW 2006/7

In August 2006, Professor Judy Wu was added to the list of Kemper Fellows selected by the University for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching. She is the fourth department faculty member selected in the last four years and the fifth overall. She joins past winners, Prof. Barbara Anthony-Twarog, Prof. Phil Baringer, Prof. Dave Besson and Prof. Bruce Twarog, within Physics & Astronomy.

Hannah Swift, undergraduate major in Astronomy, Math and Physics, was selected for the 2006 KU Women of Distinction Calendar. Hannah joins Prof. Barbara Anthony-Twarog as the second selection in two years from the Department of Physics & Astronomy
In 2006, graduating senior Shawn Henderson was awarded an NSF Graduate Fellowship to study particle physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Other departmental majors and alumni who competed and received honorable mention include Hannah Swift, Spring 2006 graduate headed for Berkeley, Miles Garrett, Spring 2006 graduate with a BA Physics and Philosophy, heading for the PhD program in Sociology at Cornell, Josh Meyers, a 2005 graduate completing his first year at Berkeley, and Stephen Floor, also a 2005 graduate completing his first year at the University of California, San Francisco. Shawn joins past winners from 2005, undergraduate alumni Sarah Feldt and Jesse Noffsinger, awarded Graduate Research Fellowships by the National Science Foundation. Jake King, Ian Lewis, and Josh Meyers received honorable mention in 2005.
Undergraduate major in Astronomy and Physics, Luis Vargas, was selected as one of 20 winners of an American Physical Society Minority Scholarship for 2005-2006. Luis is only the 2nd KU student to ever receive the award.

        

Since its establishment in 1997, the Dinstiguished Alumni Award of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences has been awarde twice to graduates of the Department of Physics and Astronomy. Dr. James Hesser (BA Astronomy 1963) received the award in 2000 and Dr. Steven Hawley (BA Astronomy, Physics 1973) is a 2007 recipient. Details on their awards can be found at this link for Dr. Hesser and at this link for Dr. Hawley.