Physics (B.S.)

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66 Major Hours, 120 Degree Hours

Students in this major must also complete requirements for a degree in the College of Arts & Sciences .

Departmental Requirements (36 hours)

Select 7 credit hours below of elective coursework or the Applied Physics specialization

Electives (7 cr hrs)-no specialization

PHYS 498 - Undergraduate Research/Scholarship (C) (1 cr hr required)
PHYS XXX-Upper division electives (6 cr hrs required)

Applied Physics specialization (7 cr hrs)

Nondepartmental Requirements (30 hours)

Students who complete the Physics major will have fulfilled the requirements for the Mathematics Minor and are not required to complete an additional minor, although they are welcome to add another minor.

Non-Departmental Requirements in Chemistry and Computer Science may be applied to an additional minor.

Secondary Education/Physics Education (B.S.)

See Physics (B.S.) with Secondary Education Certification for program requirements for degree along with the appropriate teaching certification courses.

Students must have a CGPA of 2.6 to co-register for EDFN 338 and SEED 296 and to be admitted to Teacher Education. Beginning Summer 2015, students must have a CGPA of 2.7 to be admitted to the Teacher Education Program.

Four-Year Program Guides and Costs

USD encourages students to take 15 credits per semester or 30 credits within the year in order to graduate in 4 years. To help students complete their academic degree program in four years, we provide a sample academic plan. Please work with your academic advisor to confirm your plan.

Student Learning Outcomes

Students will demonstrate competence in applying the principles and theories of physics governing the motion of macroscopic objects, including topics in classical mechanics, electromagnetism, thermodynamics, quantum mechanics, and optics.
All students must demonstrate competence in an experimental setting by collecting data and applying the scientific method within a laboratory setting.
Students will be able to articulate the foundational assumptions, central ideas, and experimental evidences for physics laws and phenomena, both orally and in writing with undergraduate research focused on experimental, as opposed to theoretical projects for a smaller group of physics majors.
Students will acquire an understanding of the academic & professional integrity.
Students will recognize when there is a need for information and identify, locate, evaluate and effectively and responsibly use and convey that information to address the need or problem at hand.
Students will interact with other students and evaluate the effort put into team tasks, interactions with others, and the quantity and quality made to team discussions.
Students will comprehensively explore issues, ideas, artifacts and events before accepting or formulating an opinion or conclusion, and combine or synthesize existing ideas, images or expertise in original ways reflecting a high degree of innovation, divergent thinking, and risk taking.
Students will design, evaluate, and implement a strategy to answer an open-ended question or achieve a desired goal.
Students will be able to systematically explore issues, objects or works through the collection and analysis of evidence that results in informed conclusions or judgments, and break down complex topics or issues into parts to gain a better understanding of them.

State Authorization - It Matters Where You Live

If your learning placement course (internship, externship, clinical, rotation, practicum, independent study, study away, etc.) or your online course will be taken outside South Dakota, please reference the State Authorization webpage.

State Authorization