organization profile

Introduction The Department of Physics at National Central University was founded in 1968. The graduate program followed soon afterwards with the establishment of the requirements for the degrees of M.Sc. and Ph.D.. We have 33 full-time faculty members, and 15 adjunct faculty members from other well-known institutes. At present, we have 199 undergraduate and 147 graduate students. Research NCUPhys is among the top physics departments in Taiwan, with excellent teaching and research programs. In addition to regular funding, the department also receives funding for the “Higher Education Sprout Project” from the Ministry of Education. We provide numerous types of financial support, so that our students can have more research opportunities. In particular our students (even undergraduate ones) can often get support in attending international conferences. Our research areas cover the physics fields such as condensed matter physics (semiconductor, nanoparticles and novel materials, surface science, magnetic materials, etc.), theoretical and experimental high energy physics, gravity (gravitational theories and gravitational-wave experiment), plasma physics, atomic/molecular physics, laser physics, high-field physics, astrophysics, and bio- and soft matter- physics. Teaching Our department offers both undergraduate and graduate programs, while in these programs we emphasize on the abilities of independent thinking and problem solving. Recently, we have rearranged our core courses (such as general physics, classical mechanics, electrodynamics, thermal physics, quantum physics, and experimental physics) into a four-semester set of elementary training courses. Through these elementary courses, our objective is to help students build up an self-motivated attitude and expect them to study a physical phenomenon through observation and analysis. In advanced courses, we provide selective courses in astronomy, high energy physics, gravity, optics, condensed matter physics, soft condensed matter, complex systems and biophysics. Besides these in-classroom courses, we encourage our students to take independent study and directed study with faculty members of the department. Through those one-to-one directed research experiences, the students gain the advantage to practice in research laboratories. Meanwhile, to encourage cross-disciplinary studies, we also provide courses regarding astronomy, life sciences, and environmental sciences. More details can be found in the webpage of the Department of Physics. Career Prospects A large portion of our graduates chose to pursue further academic studies. They were admitted to graduate programs at both local and overseas universities of renowned reputation. Others have developed careers in areas such as high-tech industrial companies and educational institutions. Most of our past graduates did not encounter significant difficulty in job searching.