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Careers for Physics Majors - Brigham Young University
Careers for Physics Majors 1 General: Skills/Salaries 3 Physics bachelor’s career statistics 4 Physics master’s career statistics 5 Physics PhD career statistics
Careers in Physics - Boston College
Careers in Physics Note: This is not intended to be a complete list of possible careers related to Physics; rather it is a sampling of possible options and resources
What Can You Do With a Physics Degree? Best Graduate
Physics is a flexible degree that gives you a first-principles and fundamental understanding of nature, strong math and analytical skills, and technical expertise and that will prepare you for many different careers SPS & physics
Physics Careers: To the Bachelor’s Degree and Beyond
APS Careers Website • Physics Employment and Salary Information – Clearing house for most recent physics employment data from AIP SRC – Thumbnails and links to full reports for more information • APS Webinars Archive – On?demand viewing for all webinar presentations
Searches related to careers with physics filetype:pdf
l Economically, physics is a viable option, leading to a wide array of high-paying and rewarding professions l Physics is great training for an ill-defined technical workplace l Physics is an excellent education for those who love physics and who have not narrowed their career goals l Do SPS, use summers wisely, do research, give talks
42538_7Careers_Talk.pdf Physics Careers: To the
Bachelor's Degree and Beyond
Crystal Bailey
American Physical Society
www.aps.org/careers bailey@aps.orgWho is a Physicist?
What makes them Physicists?•BS
•BA •MS •PhD,etc. Why? •Definitionisconsistentwithotherdisciplines(e.g.Chemistry) •Definesacommonsetofexperiences(andtexts) •Inclusiveviewisbetterforsurvivalofdiscipline However,mostimportantly,evenabasicPhysicstrainingimpartsessentialproblemsolvingskills - "howtothink" - whichisthehallmarkofaphysicist.Sharedexperiencescreatesfamiliarity - notonlywith
thesamePhysicsconcepts, butalsowiththecultureofthediscipline.Anyone with a Physics Degree
www.aps.org/careers bailey@aps.orgWhere do Physicists Work?
TheAIPStatisticalResearchCenter
estimatesthat1in7physicsbachelorswill choosetofinishaPhysicsPhD. Whatisa"traditionalphysicist"?Aphysicsprofessor?APhD researcher?The"mostcommon"careerpath?Physics PhDsBS, MS or
Employment
So~14%ofallPhysicsDegreeholderswill
actuallybecomePhysicsPhDs - andby extension"traditionalphysicists."Not where you think! www.aps.org/careers bailey@aps.orgBachelor's Degree
Between1995and2007,aboutoneͲthirdtooneͲhalfofBachelor'sdegree recipientswentdirectlyintotheworkforce.Theremainderwentonto
graduateschool: •MostlyinPhysicsandAstronomy
•Asignificantproportionwent tograduateschoolinother fields.Manyphysicsbachelor'sdegree
recipientspursuedadvanced degreesinotherareas... ...andlessthan7%ofthem wereunemployed! www.aps.org/careers bailey@aps.orgPrivateSector53%
Overhalfofphysics
bachelor'sdegree recipientsin2009Ͳ2010 foundworkintheprivate sector.PhysicsBachelorsin2009Ͳ10foundinitial
employmentinavariety ofareas.Initial Employment of Physics Bachelors
www.aps.org/careers bailey@aps.orgPhysics Bachelors in the Private Sector
Ofthese,manywentinto
engineeringorcomputer science.Asignificantportionwent
into"nonͲSTEM"fieldsPhysicsbachelorsarehighly
employable,inavarietyof careerpaths. www.aps.org/careers bailey@aps.orgAphysicsbachelor's
degreenowrankshigher instartingsalarythan manyothertechnical fields(including mechanicalengineering).Thetypicalstarting
salaryforaphysics bachelordegreehas increasedbynearly $10,000since2003. www.aps.org/careers bailey@aps.orgMaggie Seeds, Physics BSConsultant
Clarkston Consulting, North Carolina
Asaconsultant,Maggiehastoplaymanydifferentrolesdependingon clients'needs,rangingfromtechnicaltostrategic.Shesaysthather physicsbackgroundiswhatallowshertothinkinganalyticallyand examineproblemsfrommanyangles-nottomentionperseverethrough toughsituations!BS-PhysicsEducationalBackground
Fromhisearliestdays,Aaronwonderedhoweverything
worked,andwasdrawntophysicsbecauseithelpedhim uncoverthecomplexandfascinatingnatureoftheuniverse. Today,heuseswhathehaslearnedaboutthenaturalworld - combinedwithahealthyloveof buildingelectronics - tocreatedeviceswhichareonthe cuttingedgeoftechnology. Aaron Weiss, Physics BSElectrical Engineering Group Google Advanced Technology and Projects - Mtn View, CA BS- UniversityofColorado,BoulderEducationalBackground www.aps.org/careers bailey@aps.org Medical SchoolPhysicsmajorsoutͲperformedmanyothermajors(includingpreͲmed)onallthree sectionsontheMCAT.Physicsmajorsalso
accountforless than1%of individualstaking theexam...Thesefactorsmake
Physicsmajorsstand
outcomparedto othermedschool applicants.Beyond the Bachelor's Degree
www.aps.org/careers bailey@aps.orgOr Law School?
PhysicsmajorsalsoreceivedthehighestaverageLSATscores comparedtoseveralothermajors(includingPreLaw).So,aphysicsbachelor's
degreeprovidesexcellent trainingforcareersin medicineandinlaw. www.aps.org/careers bailey@aps.org Other 12% Between2009Ͳ2011,50%ofphysicsmastersrecipientsenteredorremainedin theworkforce. •HighSchoolteacherstaughtPhysics,ChemistryandMath
•Salariesforthosecontinuing employmentafterearningtheirMS were$13,000morethannewhires.Master's Degrees
PrivateSector
44%CivilianGovernment
11%College/
University
23%•Typicaltitlesincludeadjunct faculty(2yr.colleges),lab manager,andresearchassoc. •MedianStartingSalary:$38,500 •Almostentirelyfull time,STEMoccupations •MedianStartingSalary:$60,000 •PositionsmostlyatNationalLabs,Armed
ServiceBranches,orTrademarkOffice
•MedianStartingSalary:$57,000HighSchool
10% www.aps.org/careers bailey@aps.org Notsurprisingly,physicsmaster'sdegreeholdersworkingintheprivatesector earnedconsiderablemorethantheircolleaguesatcollegesanduniversities.Aphysicsmaster's
degreewillopenthe doortomore advancedpositions inavarietyof technicalfields,with highersalaries.PrivateSectorMS gradswhoearned theirdegreewhile workingearned considerablyhigher (~$83K). www.aps.org/careers bailey@aps.orgBS- Physics, TexasTechUniversity
MS-Physics,TexasTechUniversity
EducationalBackground
Thoughheroriginalgoalwaseithertobecomeanastronautorabasketballplayer,lifecircumstances sentherdownadifferentpath. AsflightdirectorforNASA,GingerusesherPhysicstrainingeverydaytosolveproblemscreatively andquickly,tohelpgetastronautshomesafely.Sam Wurzel, Physics MS Co-Founder and CEOOctopart, Inc. - New York, NY
EducationalBackground
BS- EngineeringandPhysics,BrownUniversity
MS-Physics,UniversityofColorado,Boulder
Sam'sinspirationaroseoutoffrustrationasaphysicsgradstudent searchingforpartsinhugepapercatalogs!Ginger Kerrick, Physics MS
Flight Director
NASA Johnson Space Center - Houston, TXFortunatelyhewasabletofocushisfrustrationintothecreationof Octopart,anonlinepartssearchenginewhichtodayservesover700,000users. www.aps.org/careers bailey@aps.org Atthetimeofthe2014report,theAIPStatisticalResearchcenterfoundthe numberofphysicsPhDsconferredintheUStobethehighestinthepast century:1,762.Bottomline:theUScan
expecttocontinueputting largenumbersofPhysicsPhDsintotheworkforce.Basedoncurrentenrollments,
weshouldexpectPhDdegree productiontoleveloffat around1,700/yearinthenext fouryears. www.aps.org/careers bailey@aps.orgThelargest
percentageofPhysicsPhDs
foundinitial employmentinPostdoctoraland
othertemporary positions... ...butthevast majorityof permanentjobs wereinthe privatesector.What are PhDs doing with their degrees? www.aps.org/careers bailey@aps.org Themajority(74%)ofgraduateswhoinitiallybecomepostdocs areinacademicsettings.Theremainderareatnationallaboratories(21%).
Mostpostdocs gointotheirpositionsinthehopesofmovingtowardpermanent employment.Infact,researchshowsthatatPhDgrantinguniversities,previousexperienceasa postdoc (orasfaculty)isastrongindicatorofthelikelihoodofbecomingafacultyhire. Atthesametime,becominganewfacultyhirewithonlyagraduatedegreeisextremely unlikely - evenatBachelor'sgrantinguniversities.PhD Job Force: Demand www.aps.org/careers bailey@aps.org HoweverthenumberofdeparturesoftenuredandtenureͲtrackfacultyhaschangedlittle since2003."Whiletherewereabout350departuresby tenuredandtenureͲtrackfacultyduringthe2006Ͳ2007academicyear...therewere475
recruitmentsforthesametimeframe,with342tenuredandtenureͲtrackfaculty
membershiredin2007Ͳ2008;this...is consistentwithwhatwehaveseeninprior years."ͲͲFocuson
theFacultyJobMarketinPhysics andAstronomyDepartments,AIPStatisticalResearchCenter
BottomLine:thejobmarketfor
facultyinuniversitiesandother institutionsisverystable. "Stable"meansthatoverall,notmanyjobsarebeinglost.Atthesametime,notmany arebeingcreated,either. Giventhatwearegraduatingmorethan1,700PhDs/yr,withmorethanhalfofthem going intopostdocswithanintentionofcontinuingasphysicsfaculty,supplywillcontinue tooutweighdemandforthetenureͲtrackacademiccareerpath. www.aps.org/careers bailey@aps.org Recallthatthemajority(64%)ofgraduateswhoinitiallywentintopermanentemployment positionswereintheprivatesector. AccordingtotheNSFSurveyofDoctoralRecipients,in2010theprivatesectorwasthe largestsingleemploymentbaseofPhysicsPhDs:about47%(thenexthighestwas4year colleges,at 38%).Infact,thesamedatahasshown
consistentsupportforPhysicsPhDs intheprivatesectorsince1971.Thiswasalsotruein2001,whentheprivatesectoremployed46%ofPhysicsPhDs 1 ... ...andwasalsotruein1993, whentheprivatesectoragain employed46%ofPhysicsPhDs 2 . 1NSF Survey of Doctoral Recipients, 2001
2NSF Integrated Survey Data, 1993
Industryhasbeenthelargestemployment
baseforPhysicsPhDsfordecades.PhD Employment in the Private Sector www.aps.org/careers bailey@aps.org Physics Workforce: Summary•FacultypositionsareNOTthemostcommoncareerpathforphysicists! •IndustryisthelargestemploymentbaseforPhysicsPhDs... ...andforPhysicsMasters ....andPhysicsBachelors.There is a lot of great science to be done - and
opportunity to be found - in a lot of places!Yourcareerpathwillnotbea
straightline...Smartplanningrequiresbeing awareof - andpreparedfor - allpossibilities. www.aps.org/careers bailey@aps.org •Features5Ͳminute"webinette"clipsfromthetopAPScareerswebinars
-APSwebinar"PuttingYourSciencetoWork,"withPeterFiske
-APSwebinar"CareerSelfͲAdvocacy:HowIGotASixFigureJobinthePrivateSector,"withMeghanAnzelc
•Eachchapterprovidescomprehensiveguidanceon keyaspectsofasuccessfuljobsearch. •TopicsincludeselfͲassessment,networking, interviewingandnegotiationstrategies,andmore.APS Online Professional Development Guide http://go.aps.org/physicspdguideWays APS Can Help
www.aps.org/careers bailey@aps.org •LibraryofPhysicistProfiles -Advicefromphysicistsrepresentingadiversityofdegree pathsandcareers •JobProspectsPages -Profilesfeaturethemostcommoncareerpathsfor physicists. -Includedescriptionsofdaytodayactivities,additional skillsandtrainingneeded,salaryinformation,job outlooks,andlinkstootherrelevantresourcesAPS Careers Website
•PhysicsEmploymentandSalaryInformation -Clearinghouseformostrecentphysics employmentdatafromAIPSRC -Thumbnailsandlinkstofullreportsformore information •APSWebinarsArchive -OnͲdemandviewingforallwebinarpresentations www.aps.org/careers bailey@aps.orgPanels and Networking
Opportunities at APS Meetings
•IndustrialCareersWorkshopatAPSMarchMeeting
•PanelsandNetworkingReceptions •"LunchwiththeExperts" •JobFairsatAPSMarchandDPP •SearchforjobsontheJobCenter(totallyfree). •Storeyourresume,coverletters,andothermaterialsinyourprofileonthesite.•ApplyforpositionsdirectlythroughtheJobCenter.Job Seekers can:Shareddatabase(PhysicsToday,IEEEComputing,AVS,andothers)meansthat
therearehundredsofjobsavailableonthesiterightnow.APS Job Board www.aps.org/careers bailey@aps.org •CareerWorkshops- activitieswhicharespecifically designedforundergraduateattendees •GraduateSchoolFair - meetfaceͲtoͲfacewith representativesfromgraduateprograms •StudentResearchSessions - anopportunityfor studentstopresenttheirresearch •Awardsreception - allpresentersarerecognizedandtoppresentersreceiveprizesfromThinkGeek™Future of Physics Days 2015EachyearAPSofferanumberofspecialeventsjustfor
undergraduatestudents.