Bachelor of Arts in Physics

Syracuse University is an international research university that provides students with an outstanding education built on teaching excellence, rigorous scholarship, global engagement, and collaborative research that drives discovery and advances knowledge. In the 2016-17 academic year, University physicists were among the global consortium of scientists to detect, for the first time, both sound and light from the collision of two neutron stars in deep space. They also were among that same team whose historic discovery of gravitational waves a year earlier would make global headlines and earn team leaders a 2017 Nobel Prize. The University continues to expand opportunities for students to engage in these and other research collaborations and this year has worked to identify key focus areas for research that align with, and tap into, multiple areas of disciplinary strength. The University also has a long legacy of commitment to diversity and inclusion across multiple dimensions, with minority students currently making up about 25 percent of current enrollment and international students making up about 19 percent. Global literacy is a major piece of the academic experience, and we foster this by offering a wide range of learning, research, and immersion opportunities around the world and by mindfully working to promote interaction and engagement among our internationally diverse student body here on campus. In the last year, the University assembled an Internationalization Council to expand global scholarship and engagement opportunities for students both on and off campus, and to further enhance and support the international student experience at Syracuse. Today, nearly 45 percent of students study abroad at one of the University’s own centers in Beijing, Florence, Hong Kong, London, Madrid, Santiago (Chile), and Strasbourg (France), or at other sites through partner organizations. Syracuse University also has long been a national leader in veteran-related programs and services, and it is building on that legacy with construction, now underway, of a National Veterans Resource Complex, scheduled to open in 2020. The University currently is home to such precedent-setting veterans’ initiatives as the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities and the Institute for Veterans and Military Families—the first university-based institute in the U.S. focused on addressing unique issues and challenges affecting veterans and their families. Building on our longstanding strengths while evolving in light of emerging needs and opportunities, Syracuse continues to distinguish itself by offering multifaceted learning and research experiences that address urgent challenges and prepare students to make a difference in a constantly changing world.