History

Established in 1876 as the first public college in the state, Texas A&M University today has become a world leader in teaching, research and public service. Located in College Station in the heart of Texas, it is centrally located about equidistant among three of the country's 10 largest cities -- Dallas, Houston and San Antonio.

Texas A&M is the only university to be ranked nationally among the top 10 in all four areas listed below:

• Enrollment: Academic year 1997-98 enrollment is 41,461, which places Texas A&M sixth among the nation's largest universities. Students come from every state in the nation and from 113 other countries.
• Enrollment of top students: Seventh in number of new National Merit Scholars during fall 1997, with 149 of these high-achieving students enrolled.
• Value of research: Seventh in research during Fiscal Year 1996, with $367 million in expenditures (based on most current comparable figures).
• Endowment: Tenth in endowment, with approximately $2.5 billion.

Other national highlights include:

• One of a select few institutions to hold the triple federal designation of Land Grant, Sea Grant and Space Grant.
• Home of the George Bush Presidential Library.
• Historically has led the state in retention of students overall, and of African- American and Hispanic students - keeping them enrolled and on track for graduation.
• Ranks among the top three institutions nationally in undergraduate enrollment in agriculture, business administration and architecture.
• Ranks second nationally in granting doctoral degrees to minority students.

The Department of Physics offers training in physics leading to the degrees of Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy.

The B.A. curriculum provides the student with a firm foundation in physics but allows great flexibility in the choice of a large number of elective courses. Thus, the person with a B.A. in physics will not have a full complement of undergraduate physics courses but will be able to acquire an in-depth knowledge of at least one other major academic area of his or her choice. A B.A. in physics provides excellent preparation for a career in physics teaching.

The B.S. curriculum is designed primarily for students who intend to pursue graduate work in physics or other highly technical fields or for those who intend to go directly into industrial positions as professional physicists.

The physics curriculum provides classroom and research experience that prepares a graduate student for a career of either research and teaching at a university, or research and development at an industrial or government laboratory. As part of the training of the graduate student pursuing the M.S. or Ph.D. in physics, the Department of Physics recommends that all students server as teaching assistants for at least two semesters.

The current research areas of the department faculty include experimental and theoretical research in atomic, nuclear and low temperature/solid state physics. Other research areas within the department include the theory of elementary particle interactions, atmospheric physics, quantum optics and experimental high energy physics. Research laboratories supporting experimental programs are well-equipped with modern research apparatus. Special support facilities include a helium liquefier, a MicroVax 3400 computer system and a Silicon Graphics 4D1340 mini-supercomputer, and a variable energy cyclotron.