Graduate Programs in Physics and Astronomy

Lehigh University Physics - Graduate students in Physics The department offers a program of coursework and research leading to the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in physics. Approximately 40 graduate students are enrolled in the Physics department, supported by research and teaching assistantships and fellowships.

Active research areas in the department include Astronomy and Astrophysics, Atomic, Molecular, & Optical Physics Experiment, Biophysics, Computational Physics, Condensed Matter Physics, High Energy Nuclear/Particle Experiment, High Energy Theory and Cosmology, Nonlinear Optics and Photonics Experiment, Plasma Physics Experiment, Soft Condensed Matter Physics and Complex Fluids, Statistical & Thermal Physics, and Physics Education. See the Research Page for a more detailed list of research activities. Experimental, theoretical, and computational projects are underway in most areas. Active collaborations also exist with faculty in other departments and programs at Lehigh, such as Electrical Engineering, Bioengineering, and Materials Science and Engineering.

Click here for a brochure of our graduate program (last updated: Spring 2019).

Candidates for advanced degrees normally will have completed, before beginning their graduate studies, the requirements for a bachelor’s degree with a major in physics, including advanced mathematics beyond differential and integral calculus. Students lacking the equivalent of this preparation will make up deficiencies in addition to taking the specified work for the degree sought.

At least eight semester hours of general college physics using calculus are required for admission to all 200- and 300-level courses. Additional prerequisites for individual courses are noted in the course descriptions. Admission to 400-level courses generally is predicated on satisfactory completion of corresponding courses in the 200- and 300-level groups or their equivalent.