2012–2013 UNIVERSITY CATALOG - Florida Institute of Technology

Doctoral degree requirements are stated in the Academic Overview
section, with one exception. Students must take a comprehensive
written examination administered by GRASP (see the department’s
graduate handbook for details). Students must take at least 15
semester credit hours of dissertation after admission to candidacy.
Students may take Florida Tech formal classroom courses outside
of the department (PHY or SPS) only by approval of the department
head and GRASP.
Space Sciences, Ph.D. ________________________
Major Code: 9132 Degree Awarded: Doctor of Philosophy
Age Restriction: N Admission status: graduate
Delivery Mode/s: classroom only Location/s: main campus
Admission Materials: GRE
recommended
The space sciences at Florida Tech comprise an interdisciplinary
field that includes astronomy, astrophysics, space physics,
planetary and solar studies, and physics of lightning. By nature an
interdisciplinary subject, graduate study in the space sciences can
be narrowly focused within one of these specializations. Florida
Tech’s doctoral degree in space sciences provides training with the
breadth and depth consistent with the highest-level degree. Such
training produces qualified professionals for teaching and research
in academic institutions and for research and related work in government
and industry.
Admission Requirements
General admission requirements and the process for applying are
presented in the Academic Overview section. GRE scores from
both the general and subject test in physics are recommended but
not required. Florida Tech students who wish to continue toward
the doctoral degree after completing the master’s degree (or after
completing 15 semester credit hours of graduate courses) must
submit a full application (fee will be waived) to the department.
Degree Requirements
Students entering the doctoral degree program with a bachelor’s
degree must follow the master of science degree requirements listed
above for 30 semester credit hours. Students may take six semester
credit hours of Research (SPS 6090) or six credit hours of subject
courses in place of Thesis (SPS 5999). Students must also complete
an additional 45 semester credit hours to satisfy the doctoral
program requirements as stated below.
Students entering the doctoral degree program with a master’s
degree, or a continuing doctoral student with 30 approved semester
credit hours of coursework must take five formal on-site Florida
Tech courses (equivalent to 15 semester credit hours) and 30
semester credit hours that may include courses listed for the master’s
degree, individual study, research and dissertation. A course
used for a master’s degree cannot be used to fulfill the doctoral
degree requirements. Course substitutions must be approved by
the department head and the Graduate Research and Academic
Steering Panel (GRASP).
Doctoral degree requirements are stated in the Academic Overview
section of this catalog with one exception. Students must take
a comprehensive written examination administered by GRASP
(see the department’s graduate handbook for details). Students
must take at least 15 semester credit hours of dissertation after
admission to candidacy. Students may take Florida Tech formal
classroom courses outside of the department (PHY or SPS) only by
approval of the department head and GRASP.
research
Physics
Current research in physics includes experimental high-energy
physics, experimental and theoretical condensed matter physics,
instrumentation development, theoretical and observational studies
of the solar/heliospheric energetic particles and cosmic rays,
physics of energetic radiations from thunderstorms and lightning,
auroral and magnetospheric physics, astrophysics, engineering
physics, and physics education.
Experimental research in physics is carried out in a variety of
laboratories operated by the department, as well as at national
and international research facilities. Facilities that are currently
available to graduate students include the following laboratories.
High-Energy Physics Laboratory (HEP): The HEP experimental
efforts are centered on studying high energy hadron collisions
using large particle physics experiments at major national (BNL)
and international (CERN, Switzerland) accelerator facilities,
as well as conducting basic detector technology research and
development, and high-performance grid computing in laboratories
on the Florida Tech campus. Presently, the group is involved in
data-taking efforts with the CMS experiment at the CERN Large
Hadron Collider and is performing physics analyses on these
data. The Florida Tech group has responsibilities for calibration
of the hadron calorimeters, Tier0-Tier2 data flow and validation
for the B physics analysis group, operation of a Tier3 site on the
Open Science Grid and a study of an upgrade of the forward muon
detector with micro-pattern gas detectors. The physics analyses are
initially focused on measurements of the properties of the top and
bottom quarks and search for new gauge bosons. With anticipated
higher luminosities, the physics program will switch to searches
for the Higgs boson and more exotic phenomena at multi-TeV
energy scale. Another main research area is the development and
construction of a muon tomography system for detecting high-Z
materials hidden in cargo, based on advanced micro-pattern gas
detectors such as Gas Electron Multipliers. The HEP laboratory
houses a Linux-based computing cluster with 180 CPU cores and
100TB of mass storage that is used for muon tomography detector
simulation and data analysis and serves as a Tier3 site on the Open
Science Grid for CMS data analysis. The group conducts research
and development on advanced particle detector technology for
the Super-LHC upgrade programs and participates in the RD51
detector development collaboration at CERN. In addition, Florida
Tech is a member of the PHENIX experiment at BNL’s Relativistic
Heavy Ion Collider, which is investigating a new state of matter
dubbed the quark-gluon plasma.
Maglev Laboratory: The primary goal of this lab is the
development of a new space launch system for manned and
unmanned missions based on electromagnetic acceleration and
levitation, in cooperation with NASA, the Florida Space Institutes,
and the Advanced Magnet Laboratory, a high-tech industry
partner. It houses a 43-foot magnetic levitation and propulsion
demonstration track, one of a handful of such devices in the
country, and the only one at an academic institution. Physics,
space science and engineering students and faculty, together
with researchers from the other institutions, are performing
investigations in topics such as controls, aerodynamics, mechanical
stability, superconducting technology and electromagnetic
Degree Programs—College of Science 225