Graduate Catalog 2010-12

Physics and Earth Sciences

Faculty

Ali A. Antar (Chair, Copernicus 50601), Marsha Bednarski, Mark Evans, Kristine Larsen, Peter LeMaire, Steven B. Newman, Jennifer Piatek, Nanjundiah Sadanand, Nimmi Parikh Sharma, Jeffrey Thomas, Luisito Tongson, Michael Wizevich (Dept. phone: 860-832-2930)

Department Overview

Located in Copernicus Hall, the facilities of the Physics and Earth Sciences Department include numerous introductory and intermediate/advanced laboratories as well as two teaching laboratories, an observatory containing a 16-inch telescope, a 100-seat planetarium, and a 400-kv Van de Graaff linear accelerator. The fully equipped weather center includes a National Weather Service Facsimile System, Internet capability, two rooftop satellite data retrieval systems and a fully operational color Doppler weather radar monitoring system.

In addition to teaching, the faculty pursue many areas of interest including: atomic collisions; solid state; general relativity; astrophysics; ground water pollution; public planetarium productions; lunar, planetary and deep sky observing; weather forecasting and analysis, and climatology of thunderstorm and hurricane activity in Connecticut; science education, particle physics, applied holography, and general relativity. Wherever possible, students enrolled in programs are encouraged to join with the faculty in their ongoing studies in these and other areas.

The department offers specializations in the Master of Science in Natural Sciences. For details of the program, see the Natural Sciences page, linked here.

Program

Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT): Teacher Education with Specializations in Mathematics (7-12), Sciences (7-12), Spanish (7-12), English (7-12), and Technology and Engineering Education (PK-12)

The Department of Teacher Education offers a Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT): Teacher Education with specializations in Mathematics, Sciences, Spanish, English, and Technology and Engineering Education. Candidates with documented content knowledge will complete 13 months of full-time study, earning teacher certification and the MAT degree. The program is designed to cross disciplines wherever possible, encouraging candidates to build content teaching expertise in their specializations and relate each discipline to the larger school curriculum. See the Teacher Education program, linked here, for a description of the program.