mit phd programs physics

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Requirements:

A full list of the requirements is also available on the Physics page:

Doctoral students in Physics may submit an Interdisciplinary PhD in Statistics Form between the end of their second semester and penultimate semester in their Physics program. The application must include an endorsement from the student’s advisor, an up-to-date CV, current transcript, and a 1-2 page statement of interest in Statistics and Data Science.

The statement of interest can be based on the student’s thesis proposal for the Physics Department, but it must demonstrate that statistical methods will be used in a substantial way in the proposed research. In their statement, applicants are encouraged to explain how specific statistical techniques would be applied in their research. Applicants should further highlight ways that their proposed research might advance the use of statistics and data science, both in their physics subfield and potentially in other disciplines. If the work is part of a larger collaborative effort, the applicant should focus on their personal contributions.

Grade Requirements:  Students must complete their primary program’s degree requirements along with the IDPS requirements. C, D, F, and O grades are unacceptable. Students should not earn more B grades than A grades, reflected by a PhysSDS GPA of ≥ 4.5. Students may be required to retake subjects graded B or lower, although generally one B grade will be tolerated

PhD Earned on Completion: Physics, Statistics, and Data Science

IDPS/Physics Co-Chairs : Jesse Thaler and Michael Williams

Required Courses:

Courses in this list that satisfy the Physics PhD degree requirements can count for both programs. Other similar or more advanced courses can count towards the “Computation & Statistics” and “Data Analysis” requirements, with permission from the program co-chairs. The IDS.190 requirement may be satisfied instead by IDS.955 Practical Experience in Data, Systems, and Society, if that experience exposes the student to a diverse set of topics in statistics and data science. Making this substitution requires permission from the program co-chairs prior to doing the practical experience.

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• Fall 2019 – IDS.190 – Topics in Bayesian Modeling and Computation
• Fall 2019 – Spring 2019
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Graduate schools for physics typically offer a range of

Graduate schools for physics typically offer a range of specialty programs, from quantum physics to relativity, as well as plentiful research opportunities to bolster a science education. These are the best physics schools. Each school's score reflects its average rating on a scale from 1 (marginal) to 5 (outstanding), based on a survey of academics at peer institutions. Read the methodology »

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Graduate student Michael Calzadilla awarded 2024 NASA Hubble Fellowship

Michael Calzadilla grew up in Tampa, Florida. As a first-generation college student, he earned his bachelor’s degree in physics from the University of South Florida in 2015. He subsequently crossed the pond to complete a master’s degree in astronomy as a Gates Cambridge scholar under the guidance of Professor Andrew Fabian at the University of Cambridge. Michael will complete his doctorate in physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in May 2024 with his advisor Professor Michael McDonald .

Michael’s work focuses on multiwavelength observations of galaxy clusters to study the baryon cycle that drives the evolution of all galaxies. The largest galaxies residing in these clusters grow via material cooling from their hot atmospheres, which is balanced by feedback from star formation and active galactic nuclei. As part of the South Pole Telescope collaboration, Michael’s work is among the first to leverage recent Sunyaev-Zeldovich-based detections of galaxy clusters to observe this cycling of material out to unprecedented redshifts.

As a Hubble Fellow, Michael will develop machine learning techniques for characterizing the thousands of galaxy clusters being discovered by next-generation cosmological surveys resulting in clean, unbiased samples of the earliest galaxy clusters. Using synergies with large X-ray, optical, and radio datasets, he will seek to answer when galaxy clusters first dynamically relaxed, and how the effectiveness of supermassive black hole feedback has changed over time. He will also use new observatories for more targeted follow-up to investigate the role of feedback-induced turbulence in regulating galaxy growth.

See NASA press release:  https://science.nasa.gov/missions/hubble/nasa-awards-astrophysics-postdoctoral-fellowships-for-2024/ See also   https://www.stsci.edu/stsci-research/fellowships/nasa-hubble-fellowship-program/2024-nhfp-fellows )

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Tracy Slatyer awarded 2024 Guggenheim Fellowship

QS World University Rankings rates MIT No. 1 in 11 subjects for 2024

School of Science announces 2024 Infinite Expansion Awards

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QS World University Rankings rates MIT No. 1 in 11 subjects for 2024

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QS World University Rankings has placed MIT in the No. 1 spot in 11 subject areas for 2024, the organization announced today.

The Institute received a No. 1 ranking in the following QS subject areas: Chemical Engineering; Civil and Structural Engineering; Computer Science and Information Systems; Data Science and Artificial Intelligence; Electrical and Electronic Engineering; Linguistics; Materials Science; Mechanical, Aeronautical, and Manufacturing Engineering; Mathematics; Physics and Astronomy; and Statistics and Operational Research.

MIT also placed second in five subject areas: Accounting and Finance; Architecture/Built Environment; Biological Sciences; Chemistry; and Economics and Econometrics.

For 2024, universities were evaluated in 55 specific subjects and five broader subject areas. MIT was ranked No. 1 in the broader subject area of Engineering and Technology and No. 2 in Natural Sciences.

Quacquarelli Symonds Limited subject rankings, published annually, are designed to help prospective students find the leading schools in their field of interest. Rankings are based on research quality and accomplishments, academic reputation, and graduate employment.

MIT has been ranked as the No. 1 university in the world by QS World University Rankings for 12 straight years.

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QS World University Rankings rates MIT No. 1 in 11 subjects for 2023

QS ranks MIT the world’s No. 1 university for 2023-24

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Mit offers a wide range of degrees and programs..

All graduate students, whether or not they are participating in an interdepartmental program, must have a primary affiliation with and be registered in a single department. Every applicant accepted by MIT is admitted through one of the graduate departments. MIT has a number of established interdepartmental programs, and there are many more opportunities for students to arrange interdepartmental programs with interested faculty members.

All MIT graduate degree programs have residency requirements, which reflect academic terms (excluding summer). Some degrees also require completion of an acceptable thesis prepared in residence at MIT, unless special permission is granted for part of the thesis work to be accomplished elsewhere. Other degrees require a pro-seminar or capstone experience.

Applicants interested in graduate education should apply to the department or graduate program conducting research in the area of interest. Below is an alphabetical list of all the available departments and programs that offer a graduate-level degree.

Interested in reading first-hand accounts of MIT graduate students from a variety of programs? Visit the Grad Blog . Prospective students who want to talk with a current student can reach out to their department(s) of interest for connections or, if they are interested in the MIT experience for diverse communities, can reach out to a GradDiversity Ambassador .

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Graduate Programs

The graduate program provides students the opportunity to perform research in cutting-edge areas of contemporary physics. The Department of Physics offers graduate student research opportunities in theoretical and experimental physics in condensed matter, high energy and particles, cosmology, astrophysics and biophysics.

Opportunity and Community

The graduate program comprises more than 100 graduate students from many different countries and backgrounds. We offer responsive advising throughout the duration of the program, from academic advising in the early stages to career counseling and post-graduation opportunities. In addition, the Graduate Program is enriched with multiple seminars, colloquia, workshops, and conferences that provide an opportunity for students to engage with visiting scholars.

Our graduate students train with 30 physics professors and 12 joint and affiliated faculty, primarily in engineering, applied mathematics, biology and chemistry . Multidisciplinary inquiry is encouraged. The academic program is rigorous yet flexible, combining strong core training with multiple options for more specialized studies. We foster a strong sense of community not always found in larger departments. Brown’s affiliations provide national and international research opportunities . Easy access to seminars and courses of the greater Boston area universities enriches our intellectual life.

The department is the host of the  Center for the Fundamental Physics of the Universe  and the  Brown Theoretical Physics Center . Several department members participate in large national and international collaborations, such as the Large Hadron Collider. 

Program Leaders

Director of graduate studies (dgs).

James Valles, Jr.

Professor Valles handles all Ph.D. program and student issues, including degree requirements and milestone completion, transfer credit, etc.

Professor Valles is an experimental condensed matter physicist. He studies superconductivity and electron correlation effects in disordered metals and nanostructures. He also investigates effects of strong magnetic fields in cell biology and bio-polymerization.

Director of the Master's Program (DMP)

Professor Tang handles all Sc.M. program and student issues, including admission, advising, degree requirements, etc.

Professor Tang is an experimental biological physicist. His research focuses on cell mechanics and mobility and addressing outstanding questions on morphology, pattern formation, force generation and mobility of bacteria and other cells.

Graduate Students of Color in STEM at Brown University

GSOCnSTEM is a student-driven graduate organization that hosts social events, seminar series and outreach activities focusing on the advancement of graduate students of color in STEM at Brown University.

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MIT graduate programs provide collaborative environments for advanced study by students and faculty working together to extend the boundaries of knowledge. MIT boasts globally prominent graduate programs in engineering, science, computation, architecture and planning, management, and the social sciences and humanities. MIT's five schools and one college encompass a broad variety of degree paths, each with their unique requirements. Across all schools and the college, MIT graduate programs offer students the opportunity to gain unparalleled discipline-specific knowledge; to master the tools needed to advance research; and to acquire a bedrock foundation in the skills necessary for career advancement.

This section outlines the general requirements together with other important aspects of graduate education, including admissions and financial aid.

Print this page.

The PDF includes all information on this page and its related tabs. Subject (course) information includes any changes approved for the current academic year.

Towards Scientific AI for the simulation and optimization of complex systems

Complex systems are hard to simulate and even more difficult to optimize. In this talk, I will showcase how surrogate models accelerate the evaluation of properties of solutions to partial differential equations. I will present a precise definition of the computational benefit of surrogate models and example surrogate models. We will then show how surrogate models can be combined to solve a challenging multiscale problem in optics. We will show that, through a synergistic combination of data-driven methods and direct numerical simulations, surrogate-based models present a data-efficient and physics-enhanced approach to simulating and optimizing complex systems. This approach has the benefit of being interpretable. I will also share ways forward and opportunities for synergistical collaborations.

Pestourie is an assistant professor at Georgia Tech in the School of Computational Science and Engineering. He earned his PhD in applied mathematics from Harvard University and pursued his postdoctoral studies in the mathematics department at MIT. His research is dedicated to developing computational methodologies that leverage both data and scientific knowledge to systematically find solutions to engineering problems.

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Inside the Operating Room: Doctors Test a Revolutionary Brain-Computer Implant

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HST alum Benjamin Rapoport. Photo credit: Hannah Yoon for The Wall Street Journal.

A Wall Street Journal piece focused on efforts to commercialize brain-computer interfaces, or BCIs, and the involvement of two HST alums. An operation that temporarily implanted a BCI in a patient, was described—moving it one step closer toward becoming a standard of care.

Precision Neuroscience is one of several companies vying to commercialize brain-computer interfaces, or BCIs. Benjamin Rapoport, HST EECS PhD ’11, HST MD ’13, is the chief science officer and co-founder of Precision (he is also a co-founder of Neuralink, another company seeking to commercialize BCIs). In a recent story by Jo Craven McGinty in the Wall Street Journal, a surgery to temporarily implant an experimental device is described. The neurosurgeon who conducted the operation was fellow HST alum, Iahn Cajigas, HST MEMP PhD ’12, HST MD, ’14. The patient was undergoing brain surgery to relieve symptoms of Parkinson’s disease, and as part of that process, he agreed to have the BCI implanted, to aid in research.

Rapaport describes the need for BCIs as “massive”. From the story : “There are 400,000 severely impaired patients today, (Rapoport) said, and 30,000 or so new patients each year. BCIs could help them win back a measure of independence.”

An excerpt from the story:

In the future, when the BCI is implanted during a dedicated surgery, its electrodes will be placed on the surface of the brain through an incision just large enough to accommodate the array. Its connector will attach to a package of computer chips about the size of 2 1/2 silver dollars stacked atop one another. The package will rest between the scalp and skull, with a wire running under the skin and down the neck, to an antenna and battery embedded in the chest.

The unit’s computer chips will connect wirelessly to an artificial-intelligence app that will translate brain signals picked up by the electrodes into computer code, which would move a mouse, type words or perform other digital tasks.

“To me, that’s incredible,” Rapoport said. “It’s almost science fiction.”

For more on this innovative research, please go to this Wall Street Journal link .