Graduate Study

Recognizing that interdisciplinary graduate training is key to its commitment to interdisciplinary research, the Rice Quantum Institute founded an Interdisciplinary Applied Physics Program (APP) fourteen years ago to foster graduate research and education that bridges traditional departmental structures. Students typically enter this program with undergraduate majors in physics, chemistry, or electrical, materials, mechanical, or chemical engineering. The strategic model used by the APP has (1) physics-intensive core courses foundation for all Applied Physics students and (2) elective courses from an extensive interdepartmental list from the Natural Sciences and Engineering. This provides a student with the ability to strongly customize curriculum according to individual research trajectories and has been very successful at producing Ph.D.'s with enhanced skills and capabilities in the technical marketplace.

The IGERT program will be structured along the same lines as the APP, but with a more specific focus, defining a distinct set of courses that we collectively believe are the essential requirements for an Applied Physics degree with a specific Nanophotonics concentration. A tailored set of elective courses consistent with this focus will also be offered, to provide for latitude regarding variations in each student’s preparation and interests. The program will be offered and administered as a specialization of the APP with curriculum adapted to the needs of the current and growing Nanophotonics programs on campus and collaboratively, with our international and industrial partners. By building upon the foundation of the Applied Physics Program we can take advantage of a large number of courses that are already available and formulate a coherent curriculum with just a few key additions and modifications to existing courses.