Bachelor of Arts in Physics

SUNY New Paltz

The Department of Physics & Astronomy offers majors and minors in both physics and astronomy, serves a variety of other majors in the sciences and education, and offers general education courses to a wide range of students. The Physics major (70-74 credits) leads to a Bachelor of Science (BS) or Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree and provides a broad base of fundamentals while also giving students the opportunity to get specialized training. Two-semester introductory courses that survey physics, chemistry, and calculus, as well as one semester of computer science, are followed by courses covering classical and modern physics, optics, computational physics, applied mathematics, and intermediate and advanced laboratories, among other subjects. Pursuing research with a faculty member in the fields of applied optics, computational solid-state physics, biophysics, or astronomy prepares students for careers and graduate study in physics. The capstone experience is a senior project, in which students may choose to conduct research with a faculty member or pursue a topic of special interest.

School of Science and Engineering