The Physics Graduate Program at the University of Toronto

Young-June KimAssociate Chair, Graduate Studies

Outline

• Logistics of the visit• University of Toronto• Department of Physics• Degree Programs• Choosing Supervisor• Career paths

Plan for the day• First: The graduate program, Q&A• AM before/after coffee: Presentations from

students in our research areas• Lunch (meet faculty and students)• Tours of research groups/laboratories• Appointments with individual faculty members• Dinner with current students at Harvest Kitchen

(meet at 18:15 to head over as a group)• And more

Plan for tomorrow• 9:30 Breakfast in Grad Lounge MP110• 10:00 Graduate Student Life• 11:30 Tours of campus, neighbourhood & lunch

Tours of Labs/Groups• Each tour lasts 90 minutes, and in most

cases includes a number of stops

• Please sign up on the sign-up sheets for tours (use paper version in lounge!) by the end of lunch

• Lab tours will leave from the Undergrad Lounge, at 1:00 p.m. and again at 2:30 p.m.

13:00-14:30 PM 14:30- 16:00 PMExperimental Quantum Optics Experimental Quantum Optics

Experimental Condensed Matter Physics Experimental Condensed Matter PhysicsEarth, Atmospheric and Planetary Physics Experimental Biological Physics13:00-13:45 PM 1:45-14:30 PM 14:30-15:15 PM 15:15-16:00 PM

Experimental Particle Physics (MP912);

Theoretical Biological Physics (MP606)

Theoretical Particle Physics

(MP307)

Theoretical Condensed Matter Physics (MP505)

Astrophysics (CITA Lounge 14th

floor)

University of Toronto• Founded in 1827• Canada’s largest with over 90,000 students

(20% graduate students)• Highly distinguished faculty• Consistently regarded as Canada’s top

research university– 21st in Times Higher Education rankings– 23rd internationally according to Shanghai Jiao

Tong rankings– 21st in Physics (QS World University Rankings)

Department of Physics• Founded in 1897• First PhD in 1900: to John McLennan

– Time to degree: 3 years!• Since then have graduated over 1100 PhD’s• It’s a big place:

~ 50 faculty~ 200 graduate students~ 50 support staff

Fellows: 17 APS, 6 RSC (not counting emeriti)Canada Research Chairs: 6Since 2000:

• 30 new hires– 9 are Fellows or Scholars of CIFAR– 7 Sloan Fellowships

• 4 RSC Rutherford Medalists• 3 CAP Herzberg Medalists• 5 CAP Lifetime Achievement Awards• 3 CAP Teaching Awards• …

U of T leads Canadian Physics Departments in faculty awards

Structures

• The Graduate Department of Physics is spread over the three U of T campuses– St. George, Mississauga, Scarborough

(but the main concentration is downtown/St. George)• The Graduate Office is here to serve the needs

of graduate students– Young-June Kim, Krystyna Biel and Beata

Kuszewska

Main Research Areas

• Experimental High-Energy Physics• Biological Physics• Quantum Optics• Condensed Matter Physics• Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Physics• Theoretical High-Energy Physics and

Cosmology

• Research runs the gamut from highly theoretical/abstract to applied– The department is about 50/50 theory and experiment

• We have faculty with joint appointments:• Earth Sciences• Astronomy & Astrophysics• Chemistry• Electrical & Computer Engineering• Centre for Cellular & Biomolecular Research

• Also ~12 cross-appointments who can supervise Physics graduate students, from the above plus

• Mathematics• Engineering Geoscience• Biomedical Engineering• Medical Biophysics• Biochemistry• Molecular Genetics

• Connections with U of T institutes– Centre for Global Change Science– Centre for Quantum Information and

Quantum Control– Institute for Optical Sciences

• Connections with independent institutes– CITA, Fields, PRO, CIFAR, TRIUMF, IPP,

Perimeter(the first three located on our campus!)

Breadth of Physics Research at Toronto

• Truly unequalled• Program deliberately structured to allow new

students time to find the right research area• The boundaries of physics are fuzzy, and

changing all the time– Physics is not so much what you do, as

how you do it

Graduate Studies at U of T

• Emphasis is on doctoral research• Collaborative specializations:

– Earth Sciences and Physics– Environmental Studies– Biomedical Engineering

• Physics degrees– MSc: one-year or (exceptionally) thesis– PhD: direct entry (from BSc) or after MSc

Some Statistics• 70% of MSc students continue to PhD here • Median time to PhD is 5.5 years

– Details depend on supervisors (ask!)• 85% of students who begin a PhD finish it• Mean time to attrition is < 2 years• Currently ~25% of our students are non-Canadian• Physics PhD graduates from 2009-2015

– 72 continued in academia– 24 in government or industrial research– 36 in other areas

http://www.sgs.utoronto.ca/about/Pages/10,000-PhDs-Project.aspx

~270 Physics PhDs From 2000-2015

Is Grad School for me?• A 5-7 year commitment with financial support

lower than comparable salary for a Physics BSc means you have to really love it!– The MSc year can help you decide

• On the other hand, the life of a grad student has a lot of appeal:– You learn a lot, have an enormous amount of

independence, get to travel, make friends from all over the world, do something creative, be (relatively) unburdened by administration or bureaucracy…

Admissions

• Offers based on strength of application and supervisory capacity

• We are targeting ~ 40 admissions• Offers made for either

– One-year MSc (prelude to continuing in PhD)– Direct-entry PhD– PhD (after MSc): requires a supervisor be

identified prior to start of degree

Financial support• If you remain “In good academic standing”,

then we provide a guaranteed minimum level of financial support for 5 years (4 years if admitted to PhD, already holding an MSc)– Funding usually continues at a comparable

level, subject to satisfactory progress• Next year it will be $23,110 + tuition fees• Generous top-ups provided for major

scholarship holders (if in PhD)

• An attractive feature of our financial support package is the relatively small number of T.A. hours assumed/required– 140 hours per year, for minimum support– The hours are closely tracked by T.A. union

• Can be increased, for qualified T.A.s– Not required to do full allocation if you don’t

want to (some researchers can provide additional R.A. support)

• However T.A.-ing is a good experience, and an important part of your graduate training (if not overdone – some schools require 300+ hours of TA-ingtheir basic funding package)

Academic Matters• MSc can be done in one of two ways:

– Option I: 6 one-semester courses, plus research report

– Option II: 4 one-semester courses, plus research project (with an oral exam)

• Direct-entry PhD students need to take a minimum of 4 one-semester courses in their first year

• All are required to take a non-credit short course (5 hours) on teaching

• For Ph.D., 6 one-semester courses are required– Courses taken for MSc count toward this– Up to half can be from outside Physics

• Qualifying Exam must be attempted by end of April in:– First year if regular PhD– Second year if MSc or direct-entry PhD

• The Qualifying Exam is based on a PhD proposal, and is not a comprehensive exam

• PhD supervisory committee meets with each student at least once per year, providing feedback

Courses

• We have a wide selection of courses:– General (e.g. E&M, Stat Mech, QM, … )– Specialised (some cross-listed with UG)– Other (Advanced topics, for 2nd year)– Augmented by many interesting and valuable courses in

other departments• Most of your graduate education will be outside the

classroom

Term Fall Spring General Statistical Mechanics (1500)

Electromagnetism (1510) Quantum Mechanics (1520) Fluid Mechanics (1530) Mathematical Methods (1540)

Nonlinear Physics (1460) Current Interpretations of QM (1491) Mathematical Methods, cont’d (1540)

HEP/A Relativity Theory I (1483) Intro to High-Energy Physics (1489) Quantum Field Theory I (2403)

Relativity Theory II (1484) Quantum Field Theory II (2404) Experimental HEP (2405) Phenomenology of SM (2408) or Special Topics (2407) A.Y.

QO Laser Physics (1485) Quantum Optics I (2203) Quantum Information Theory (2211)

Quantum Optics II (2204) Atomic & Molecular Phys (2202) or Nonlinear Optics (2208): A.Y. Special Topics (2205/2206): A.Y.

ATM Intro to Atmospheric Physics (1498) Data Assim. & Retrievals (2506)

Radiative Transfer (2505) Atmospheric Dynamics (2504) Climate System Dynamics (2502) Special Topics (2509/2510)

GEO Planetary Physics (2609) Inverse Theory (2603)

CMP Quantum Theory of Solids I (1487) Adv Stat Mech (2315) Special Topics (2314)

Quantum Theory of Solids II (2303) Many-body Theory (2321)

BIO Cell/Molecular Bio I (2707) Quantitative Bio (2709)

Cell/Molecular Bio I (2708) Computational Bio (2710) Bio Techniques (2711)

Choosing a Supervisor• One of the most important decisions you will

ever make: choose wisely!– Interest and Fit– Also consider long-term (career) aspects– Do research on research– Talk with other students!

• For MSc or direct-entry PhD, you can lock a supervisor up early, or decide after you get here– It is not unusual for students to change supervisors

after their first year

• Note that we cannot guarantee you your first choice of supervisor, or even research area– We believe that rather than assigning students to

supervisors, it is better to give people (students and supervisors!) the freedom to make the most appropriate choice

– It is entirely possible that you don’t have a full appreciation of all the exciting areas of physics offered in our department

– The first year is deliberately structured to allow you to explore a variety of research areas (if so inclined), or to dive straight into research if you know what you want to do.

– There will be opportunities to meet professors from various groups in the Fall term.

What should I be looking for?• Scientific ability of your supervisor

– And how well you get on with them • Quality of the other graduate students• What do the students do on a day-to-day basis?• Facilities, variety of courses• Intellectual life (seminars, journal club)• Opportunities for students (e.g. conferences and

summer schools), etc.• A place where you are comfortable living

Dispelling a Myth

• There seems to be a rumour that to get a faculty position in Canada, you need to have done your PhD at a top US institution

• We currently have 20 faculty who got their PhD in Canada– Eight from Toronto (Julian, Krieger, Kushner,

Morris, Peltier, Sipe, Teuscher, Wunch)

– Four each from UBC, McGill and Alberta– Some from Harvard, Columbia, Northeastern,…

• It’s true that you should probably spend some time abroad, but this can also be done at the post-doctoral level when, in many ways, you can get more out of it

• Our graduates regularly go on to post-docs at leading international institutions and ultimately to faculty positions all over the world

• If you are seeking a faculty position, then it’s ultimately the research you have done that matters, not where you did your degree

Why come to Toronto?• A great city• The best university in Canada, among the top

in the world• A vibrant, young department with an

unequalled breadth of research areas• Excellent graduate students• Rapid exposure to research• Flexibility in choice of research area