October 3, 2022
by Luke Auburn

RIT to launch new physics Ph.D. program in fall 2024

Physics will become the 14th program in RIT’s growing Ph.D. portfolio

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microscope equipment.

Shima Parsa

RIT will begin offering a new Ph.D. in physics in the fall of 2024. In this photo at one of RIT’s labs, laser sheet microscopy is used to investigate the transport of micron-size colloids in a microfluidics-based model rock.

Rochester Institute of Technology will begin offering a new Ph.D. in the fall of 2024 that is designed to prepare graduates to extend the frontiers of fundamental scientific knowledge and develop new advances in technologies at the forefronts of 21st century physics.

The Ph.D. in physics will provide students paths for careers in academia, industry, and government laboratories. It will draw from RIT’s strengths in areas including photonics and quantum technology, biological and soft matter physics, and physics education research.

“This program will provide knowledge, training, and opportunities for a diverse body of students across numerous exciting, high-profile subfields of physics,” said Michael Kotlarchyk, head of RIT’s School of Physics and Astronomy. “The program is built on a strong foundation of physics faculty who have been steadily growing their research funding, scholarly output, and opportunities for students across the past decade.”

This is the second Ph.D. program offered by the School of Physics and Astronomy, joining RIT’s astrophysical sciences and technology Ph.D. It will become RIT’s 14th doctoral program, following Ph.D. programs in business administration and cognitive science that will launch in 2023. RIT will become just the second university in the greater Rochester area to offer a Ph.D. in physics.

Kotlarchyk said the program plans to enroll five Ph.D. students in the program’s first year and will grow to 31 students by year five. More information about the physics Ph.D., including a webpage for the program, will be available in the coming months.

RIT’s strategic plan calls for adding six to 12 new Ph.D. programs and conferring 50 doctoral degrees every year by 2025. The university already reached the latter goal with 51 Ph.D. degrees conferred in the 2020-2021 academic year.

Today, RIT enrolls more than 400 Ph.D. students in 11 Ph.D. programs. They are astrophysical sciences and technology, biomedical and chemical engineering, color science, computing and information sciences, electrical and computer engineering, engineering, imaging science, mathematical modeling, mechanical and industrial engineering, microsystems engineering, and sustainability.

For more information, contact Michael Kotlarchyk.

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