You know you

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You know youre a physics major if you

• have no life - and you can PROVE it
  mathematically.
• know vector calculus but you can't remember how
  to do long division.
• chuckle whenever anyone says 'centrifugal force.'

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You know youre a physics major if you

• like to know how things work!
• like analytical problem solving
• see math as a very cool tool (at least)

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Why a physics major?

• You love
• discovering how the physical universe works
• making new or better technologies
• the highest pay, lowest unemployment among
  physical sciences
• best scores on LSAT, MCAT
• (2009 reportMCAT second only to Biomed Eng)

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• Physics is a great foundation for any career that
  involves technology or physical science

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Careers for Physics Majors

1. Jobs for students with BS Pie charts
2. Jobs for PHD
3. Pay
4. Typical day in industry
5. Graduate school
6. Typical day in National Lab
7. Typical day in the academy

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Physics
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What do physics majors do with a bachelors degree?

• Work in industry
• Research and development
• Engineering
• Quality Control
• Computers, Information technology
• Finance
• Government lab technicians
• Teach high school
• Military

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• They pay you while you are in graduate school in
  sciences like physics or astronomy

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Job Information Forum An Industrial Perspective

• Jeff Schwartz
• WL Gore Associates

57th AVS Annual Symposium 10-19-2010
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A Typical Day in industry

• Office Work
• Reports
• Meetings
• Reviews
• Budget
• Mentoring

• Lab Work
• Experiments
• Data Analysis
• Statistics
• Lab notebook
• Lit. Research

Office Work
Lab Work
Years at company (experience)

• Will depend on
• size of company
• age of company
• phase of project

• culture of company
• role hired for

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Advice for Industry

• Recommended classes
• Statistics Design of Experiments (DOE)
• Intellectual property
• Internships
• Streamline Résumé or CV
• Be as succinct as possible
• Highlight skills that will be relevant to
  position
• Include anything else you may think is important
• Network always take the opportunities to
  interact
• Build relationship that may help you in the
  future
• Gain knowledge

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Advice for Industry (continued)

• Interviewing
• Research company in advance
• Ask questions
• Dont be afraid to say I dont know
• Know answers to the obvious hard questions
• Where do you want to be in 5 years?
• What is the most difficult ______ you have ever
  done?
• What type of work to you like to do?
• Have examples in mind

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Benefits of Industry

• Research more geared to a product or product
  focus
• Compensation starting pay typically higher
  (bonuses)
• Dont have to write grants
• except for small business grants or start-ups

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Downside to Industry

• Freedom to publish
• Intellectual Property (IP) over publications
• Downsizing
• Acquiring technology instead of inventing it
• Research directed by business needs

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You might be a good fit in industry if

• You want to help a business grow.
• even, or perhaps especially, if its your own
• You like applied problem solving.
• Few companies have internal capabilities for
  truly fundamental research.
• Fundamental research may be more prevalent in
  smaller or privately held companies.
• You can live with 80/20 rule.
• Dont let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
• You can tolerate (and maybe even like) the
  corporate environment.
• Every company has its own culture know the
  culture where you work.
• From Matt Wagner, industrial Careers 2008 AVS

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Engineer compared to Physicist jobs

• In 2008, there were 1.6 million jobs titled
  Engineer http//www.bls.gov/oco/ocos027.htmempl
  y
• There were 16,000 jobs titled Physicist and
  1500 titled Astronomer http//www.bls.gov/oco/oc
  os052.htm
• Many with physics degrees are among the 1.6
  million Engineers
• As a group, jobs titled Physicist earn slightly
  more than those titled Engineer, but there are
  more Physicists with advanced degrees.
• As a physics major, you are much more likely to
  be called an engineer than a physicist, even with
  a physics degree.

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• Engineer job numbers

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Jobs titled Physicist
Research Dev 6300
Government 3600
Education 1800
Medical physicists (radiation, imaging) 1100
Manufacturing 800
Architectural and related engineering 700
Consulting 500
Utilities 400
Testing Labs 200
Waste management (nuclear) 100
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Unemployment Rates (1996-1997 PhDs)
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Graduate school beyond

• Physics
• Careers with M.S. or Ph.D
• Industry
• Government labs
• Academics
• Engineering
• Medical physics/biophysics
• Medicine
• Law and patent law
• Business
• Economics/finance

Technical schools pay you to study! Those with an
M.S. have important roles
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National Laboratories
Pacific Northwest
Idaho
Fermi
Brookhaven
NationalRenewableEnergy
NationalEnergy Technology
Ames
Argonne
LawrenceBerkeley
Lawrence Livermore
Princeton
Thomas Jefferson
Sandia
Stanford Linear Accelerator Center
Los Alamos
Oak Ridge
Sandia
SavannahRiver
KEY
NNSA Labs
Environmental Management
Fossil Energy
Science
Energy Efficiency and Renewable
Nuclear Energy
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Sandias People

• On-site workforce 11,200
• FY08 permanent workforce 8,400
• FY08 gross payroll 886.1M
• FY08 budget 2.3B

Diciplines of Most Technical Hires (FY03 FY05)
Top 3 hire fields comprise approximately 55 of
technical hires

• IT
• ME
• EE

Technical Staff (3,844) by Degree (End of FY08)
Top 5 hire fields are approximately 70 of
technical hires

• Physics
• Chemistry

Top 11 hire fields represent approximately 90 of
technical hires

• Chemical Eng
• Materials Science
• Math
• Biology
• Nuclear Eng
• Aerospace Eng

Physics 6
Math 2
Chemistry 4
Computing 16
Other Science 4
Other Fields 17
Electrical Engineering 19
Mechanical Engineering 16
Other Engineering 15
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A National Lab Might Be a Good Place For You If

• You are interested in applying your talents to
  resolving technical problems of national concern.
• Your lifestyle is compatible with holding a
  security clearance.
• You can adapt to having projects spanning from
  basic research to applied problem-solving related
  to manufacturing.
• You can tolerate the government bureaucracy.
  (Nobody likes it.)
• You want to work at a place in which you can have
  multiple jobs throughout your career without ever
  having to sell your house. (Applies particularly
  to larger national labs.)
• You want a career with a high degree of
  flexibility and high job security.
• You can tolerate good pay with minimal annual pay
  increase.

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Working at a National Lab (Sandia-Centric View!)

• Culture
• Each NL will have its own culture make sure you
  understand it
• Each area within a NL will have its own culture
• Salary/Benefits
• Salary and benefits are good, but subject to mood
  of Congress/Board of Directors
• Benefits include insurance (health, dental, long
  term care), 401(k), vacation
• Some areas allow flex time
• 9/80 schedule
• Work-Life Balance Job Security
• Excellent
• Amount of Travel
• You can choose your role and the amount of travel
• Foreign travel often painful (bureaucratically)
• Ability to Publish/Present
• Always favorable, but amount varies by
  administration currently VERY favorable

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Things to Consider for Your Career

• Are you a risk-taker or more conservative in
  choosing your project portfolio?
• Are you interested in doing lab work exclusively
  or serving in a program development role?
• Are you interested in an academic environment, a
  production or development environment, black
  (classified) work, or interacting with industry?
• Are you interested in global issues and foreign
  travel?
• Are you interested in entrepreneurship?
• Is it very important to you to make yourself
  rich?
• Network, Network, Network!!!

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Unemployment Rates (1996-1997 PhDs)
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Academic Careers

• Eva Chi
• Department of Chemical and Nuclear Engineering
• University of New Mexico
• evachi_at_unm.edu

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How Eva got here
2008
1994
1999
2004
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Evas job

• Avg. 50-70 hrs/week
• Research
• Fund-raising
• Mentoring
• Publishing
• Managing
• Teaching
• Class room teaching
• Grading
• Mentoring
• Service
• Department and university
• Professional activities and service
• Collegiality
• Building collaborations

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You might be a good fit for academia if

• you feel passionate about research and solving
  open-ended problems
• you love to interact with students
• you like or are competent at writing

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Questions
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• What skills do you think physicists say they need
  most in the workplace?

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• US Labor statistics Phys and Astro each
  projected to grow by 16 from 2008 to 2018
• http//www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes192012.htm
  Wage information

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• Besides making a living, what do you hope for in
  a career?

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• Satisfaction and shopping at Walmart

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Typical Industrial Career Track Options

• Technical Ladder
• More focused on research and development
• Individual contribution
• Working as member of a collaborative team
• Management Ladder
• More emphasis on directing the efforts of others
• Technical competence still crucial
• More involvement in strategic decisions
• How IRD will be spent
• Product Development direction
• Often possible to switch tracks at various points
  in your career

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Valued Skills in an Industry Environment

• Broad Technical Capability
• Have key areas of expertise, but be adaptable and
  willing to learn
• Modeling and Analysis
• Standard software tools (MATLAB, Saber, P-Spice,
  etc)
• Test and data assessment
• Systems Engineering
• Budgeting, planning, financial accountability
• Excel spreadsheets, Microsoft Project
• Schedule discipline
• Working in a collaborative environment
• Teamwork, and good communication skills

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Other Factors to Consider

• Pick something that really appeals to you
• Choose a job you love and you will never have to
  work a day in your life ..Confucius
• Growth opportunities
• Determine the importance of geographic location
• Housing costs
• Proximity to family, commute time, recreation
• Benefits Medical, dental, financial

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Summary

• High Probability that a physics graduate will
  work in Industry or Government
• There are a wide range of exciting options
• Key Skills
• Technical expertise
• Adaptability, and willingness to learn
• Teamwork
• Basic Financial and budgetary management
• Written and verbal skills especially reports
  and presentations
• Physicists are in high demand
• Many options are available
• Choose wisely

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Engineer compared to Physicist jobs

• In 2008, there were 1.6 million jobs titled
  Engineer http//www.bls.gov/oco/ocos027.htmempl
  y
• There were 16,000 jobs titled Physicist and
  1500 titled Astronomer http//www.bls.gov/oco/oc
  os052.htm
• Many with physics degrees are among the 1.6
  million Engineers
• As a group, jobs titled Physicist earn slightly
  more than those titled Engineer, but there are
  more Physicists with advanced degrees.
• As a physics major, you are much more likely to
  be called an engineer than a physicist, even with
  a physics degree.

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• Engineer job numbers

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Jobs titled Physicist
Research Dev 6300
Government 3600
Education 1800
Medical physicists (radiation, imaging) 1100
Manufacturing 800
Architectural and related engineering 700
Consulting 500
Utilities 400
Testing Labs 200
Waste management (nuclear) 100
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http//www.bls.gov/oco/ocos052.htmprojections_dat
a http//www.guidetocareereducation.com/tips-and
-tools/physics-careers Whos hiring where?
http//www.aip.org/statistics/trends/states/state.
html