PEDAGOGIC PHILOSOPHY AND MISSION STATEMENT

 

The Department of Physics is committed to excellence in the education of its undergraduate and graduate students in core and applied physics topics, as well as related areas that encompass understanding of physical concepts.  Applied physics provides the bridge between theoretical, fundamental physical concepts and their practical, engineering applications.  Our emphases on materials physics, biomedical physics, and environmental physics, with laser physics, computational physics, and imaging science as enabling technologies, is responsive to these needs.  This mission is served by a diverse faculty with expertise in theoretical and applied physics.  Accordingly, faculty members are drawn from a number of science and engineering fields, including, but not limited to, Biophysics and Physiology, Physics, Applied Physics, Chemical Physics, and Electrical Engineering.

 

The Department of Physics is committed to the generation and dissemination of new scientific knowledge involving physical principles and their applications to related interdisciplinary fields.  The faculty and students in the Department of Physics are cooperatively contributing to the advancement of scientific knowledge at the frontiers of human understanding in the sciences in general and physics in particular.  This process essentially intertwines the initial development of scientific methodology in classroom and laboratory instruction activities within the Department, the search for new knowledge in research laboratories in the Department of Physics and affiliations outside, and dissemination through professional channels and in the classroom.  In addition to scientific advancement, the ultimate objective is the preparation of future scientists with knowledge of historical perspectives of current physical principles, and their applications at the forefront of science and technology.

 

The Department of Physics is committed to serving the University, the surrounding local and the larger national community.  Internally, faculty and students of the Department are providing leadership and participation in department, college and university governance.  Externally, this service is manifested through the sharing of expertise and mutual interest in local, national and international professional organizations, and in local civic organizations.  The objective is to have a beneficial impact on the community and nation at large, while enhancing the quality of teaching and research at USF.