Physics and Astronomy at JMU: Who We Are

JMU has a 11.5% minority population and a 60:40 female/male ratio. Drawing 30% of its students from other states, JMU serves a diverse student body. There were 18,000+ applications for approximately 4000 openings in the freshman class in 2008.

Ours is a large Physics and Astronomy department by any measure. In the fall of 2008, we enrolled a total of 100 majors. According to the 2006-2007 AIP enrollment data (the most recent available), only 12 undergraduate-only physics departments enroll more juniors and seniors than JMU. As measured by graduates, we are larger than 597 of the 660 reporting physics departments of any type in the country and larger than 419 of the 431 undergraduate-only departments. The size of our junior and senior classes permits offering a wide variety of electives for our students that are not often found elsewhere, even in much larger research universities where the focus tends to be on graduate education.

Yet, in spite of this size, we maintain a small department atmosphere. Without a graduate program and teaching assistants, all our classes are taught by faculty. The upper-level classes are small, permitting a close relationship between faculty and students. Students are focus of our department.

Our faculty are outstanding researchers. Eleven of the 15 tenured or tenure-track faculty are engaged in externally funded research programs and 12 out of the total of 22 full time faculty are externally funded. These research programs include undergraduate students in fundamental roles. Newly hired faculty are expected to obtain external funding to support their research and their students. Our students routinely present their work at regional and national meetings and publish with faculty in refereed journals. In nuclear/particle physics and astronomy, our faculty play vital roles in large external collaborations supported by active on-campus components. The programs in computational, materials, and soft condensed matter are highly interdisciplinary, including collaborations with faculty from across the college and beyond the university. Our faculty are leaders in the university's Center for Material Science and administrators of a National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program. This combination of extensive on- and off-campus research provides our students with opportunities for interaction with students and researchers of the highest caliber from other institutions.

There are seven non-tenure-track faculty in our department. These faculty manage our teaching laboratories, prepare pre-service teachers and teach students from across the university. Among these faculty are the co-director of the university's Science and Mathematics Learning Center and a Teacher-in-Residence, and the director of the Wells Planetarium, a state-of-the-art facility for education and outreach. The Wells Planetarium formally reopens in September 2008 after a complete remodeling and upgrade totaling in excess of $1.3M.

Our research laboratories house a wide array of instrumentation and capabilities that rivals that of many research institutions. In May, 2005, the department moved into the new $25.5M Physics and Chemistry Building where over $2.7M was spent on equipping our department. The equipment available includes an SEM, e-beam lithography, AFM with a nano-manipulator, x-ray spectroscopy, a 600 MHz NMR, a high-speed video camera, an extensive collection of nuclear electronics and detectors, a 15 MeV linear electron accelerator, a radio telescope and a variety of optical telescopes, and a collection of high-end workstations for data and image analysis. Instrumentation in the various departments in the College of Science and Mathematics are available to faculty and students throughout the college, leveraging the access to the widest possible audience. This access, for example, makes the Immersive visualization System available to our students (see for example, the double pendulum). Undergraduates gain hands-on experience with this equipment in their research, developing a broad set of laboratory skills in addition to physics fundamentals. In 2008, we benefited from over $2M in external funds supporting our faculty and students.

A vibrant and intellectually stimulating environment for our students and faculty is highly valued. To support this, we have an active colloquium program which brings in 15-20 visitors to the department each year. The list of visitors will usually include one or two speakers with a national reputation each year.

Outreach is another important component of our program. In addition to the newly remodeled Wells Planetarium, there is an Astronomy Park on campus to facilitate star gazing for public and university groups, we routinely host demonstration shows for area middle school classes and many faculty visit schools and the Harrisonburg Children's Museum. The addition of a Teacher-in-Residence and the addition of a summer workshop for in-service teachers provides a connection to high and middle schoool teachers to help improve the quality of physics educaiton throughout the state.