CAREERS

If you graduated from Valparaiso University with a major in physics and astronomy, what might you be likely to do?

Well, here's what some of our graduates have done and are doing.

• Approximately 50% of our graduates go to graduate school.

  Most complete the Ph.D. in physics, astronomy, or astrophysics. And they earn these degrees at schools like Stanford, Cornell, Chicago, Duke, Northwestern, Cal Tech, Illinois, and others where they get a tuition scholarship and a stipend to pay living expenses. Upon completion of their degrees, they take professional employment.

  Examples:

  • Condensed matter physics research at Bell Laboratories
  • Research in radiation physics and synchrotron physics at Argonne National Laboratory
  • Elementary particle physics research at the Center for European Nuclear Research (CERN in Geneva, Switzerland)
  • University professorships
  • Research in astronomy at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory

  Others take graduate degrees in medicine, medical physics, chemistry, biophysics, law, business, and other fields.

• Approximately 50% of our students enter employment after graduation.

  The breadth of positions they take is truly amazing, and it speaks to the significance of and respect for a broad undergraduate education in physics and astronomy.

  Examples:

  • Research and development physicist at General Dynamics
  • High school physics teaching
  • Superconducting magnetic proton beam line director, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
  • Accelerator operator, Stanford Linear Accelerator
  • Physicist at Applied Physics Laboratories, John Hopkins University
  • Nuclear reactor specialist, Westinghouse Corporation
  • Research and development group leader, Motorola Corporation
  • Scientific programmer, Goddard Space Flight Center

Graduate feedback: "Am I glad I took my undergraduate education at VU!"