Master in Physics (44 months)

The Graduate Program in Physics was created in 1969 with headquarters at the School of Engineering of São Carlos (EESC) of the University of São Paulo on the campus located in the city of São Carlos, in the interior of the state of São Paulo. In 1971, the Institute of Physics and Chemistry of São Carlos (IFQSC) was created as a branch of the EESC and took with it this Graduate Program in Physics.

In 1975, the Program was divided into two areas: Applied Physics and Basic Physics. The Basic Physics area housed research projects related to fundamental and inherent themes of Physics, while the Applied Physics area received inter and multidisciplinary projects.

In 1994, the IFQSC was divided into the São Carlos Institute of Physics (IFSC) and the São Carlos Institute of Chemistry (IQSC). The Graduate Program in Physics was then headquartered at the IFSC. In that same year, the emphasis on Computational Physics was created within the area of ​​Applied Physics.

Between 1994 and 1999, the IFSC underwent rapid growth that increased its number of professors and included new lines of research. Many researchers hired during this period were dedicated to research topics in inter and multidisciplinary areas, such as protein crystallography, structural biology, molecular biophysics, nanotechnology applied to biomolecules, biofuels and physics applied to the solution of health problems. As a reflection of this expansion, in 1999 the Program created an emphasis on Biomolecular Physics within the area of ​​Applied Physics.

In 2019, we adapted the areas of the Program following current USP legislation. We divided the program into three areas: Theoretical and Experimental Physics, Biomolecular Physics and Computational Physics. The new division avoids unnecessary subdivisions in emphases and reflects the consolidation of the areas of Biomolecular Physics and Computational Physics.

Recently, the Program not only maintained the level of quality present since its foundation, but also increased its insertion in research activities that generate products and processes directly applied to the improvement of living conditions in our society. The participation of students in the generation of patents is one of the examples of this insertion that will be discussed below. The Program has established itself as the second largest physics program in Brazil in absolute numbers of advisors and students and in number of thesis and dissertation defenses, reaching a clear leadership in several aspects of the Brazilian research and postgraduate scenario.

The evolution in the number of students and defenses show a sharp growth in research and training of qualified personnel resulting from the Program. On December 31, 2020, we reached 809 theses and 1007 dissertations defended in the Program. We believe that these data and others discussed below are compatible with the maximum grade awarded by CAPES to this Program since the beginning of the evaluations: from 1975 to 1995 it had an A grade and since 1995 it has a grade of seven.