Ø Background to the program and subject area:
We welcome you to one of the oldest departments at the University of Jordan. Since its establishment in 1965, the Physics department has developed positive educational and research environments. It offers courses leading to BSc, MSc and PhD degrees in physics. Currently, it has 35 faculty members teaching about 263 undergraduate Physics major students in addition to 124 graduate students. The supporting staff consists of 24 members working as laboratory instructors and technicians, engineers and technicians at the electronic and mechanical workshops. The undergraduate program is designed for students interested in either teaching physics at schools or pursuing their graduate studies in physics. The undergraduate students have access to two main computing facilities in addition to seven experimental laboratories that offer experiments at the introductory, intermediate and advanced undergraduate teaching levels. The department also offers service courses to more than two thousand undergraduate students from the Schools of Science, Engineering, Information Technology, Agriculture, Medicine, Dentistry, and Rehabilitation Sciences. Moreover, the department is actively engaged in several areas of research which include:
Ø Theoretical and experimental solid state physics
Ø Materials and nanoscience physics
Ø Theoretical condensed matter physics
Ø Theoretical nuclear physics
Ø Mathematical and computational physics
Ø Experimental nuclear physics
Ø Atomic and molecular physics
Ø Medical physics
Ø Environmental physics
In As a support to the above theoretical and experimental research areas, the department has established a High Performance Computing facilities (HPC) in addition to several experimental laboratories that are equipped with state of the art facilities such as:
Ø X-ray Diffractometer (XRD)
Ø Atomic Force Microscope (AFM)
Ø Physical Vapor Deposition tool (PVD)
Ø Photoluminescence (PL) Spectrofluorometer
Ø Polarized Optical Microscope
Ø Van de Graaff Accelerator
Ø Mechanical and Electronic Workshops
Ø Vision statements of the program:
The future vision of the department can be summarized within the following:
1. Promoting quality education in Physics taking advantage of the fast developing fields of pedagogy and educational technology.
2. Strengthening research activities to cover the following goals: attracting qualified researchers, providing modern well equipped research labs, and expanding research in relevant new directions.
3. Strengthening mutual research and educational ties with prestigious universities and scientific centres of excellence.
Ø Mission statements of the program:
Beginning with the establishment of the University of Jordan in 1963, the mission of the Physics Department has been geared towards the following:
1. Educating young Jordanians to assume their roles as teachers of physics in Jordan and the regional Arab countries.
2. Preparing qualified graduates who are able to pursue their higher studies in Physics and related disciplines.
3. Providing graduate studies at the M.Sc. and Ph.D. levels to Jordanians and other Arab citizens to meet the market demands for more and better qualified graduates.
4. Initiating and promoting research activities in a number of specialized fields of theoretical and applied physics that respond to the market needs.
5. Supplying industry, business, and the government public service, with qualified personnel and manpower.
6. Supplying technical staff as lab assistants and supervisors to: universities, schools, hospitals and private industries and business.
Ø Program Aims:
O1- To provide the students with core physics courses that are designed to enable them to pursue graduate studies in physics, both theoretical and experimental, with emphasis on computational skills.
O2- To prepare the students for teaching physics at high schools, with special attention to training them in communication and managerial skills.
O3- To make the students aware of their societal responsibilities, motivating them to actively participate in disseminating scientific knowledge as well as to contribute to programs of science clubs in local schools and of promoting scientific literacy, especially amongst underprivileged communities in peripheral rural areas.