student with equipmentDiscover your natural potential as a physics major at Northern Michigan University, where students don't just study physics; they have the opportunity to apply what they are learning by participating in a number of physics research projects. Northern offers a full undergraduate curriculum for physics and physics secondary-education majors and students have the benefit of small class sizes and personalized attention. Physics programs are designed to provide students with a solid science foundation, and to help them develop the technology and research skills in all areas of physics desired by graduate schools and companies seeking problem-solving employees with backgrounds in specialties such as electronics, optics and computer interfacing.

Students don’t need to be upperclassmen to get hands-on learning experiences at NMU. Research, teaching and mentoring opportunities are available to physics majors at all levels. Students may be interested in creating lenses that mimic the gravity that bends light around planets, investigating the phenomenon of the Aurora Borealis or researching particles and fields theory. Students also have opportunities to attend research conferences and join the NMU Physics Club, which helps to coordinate science-related presentations for campus and plays an active role in community outreach, especially at area schools.

Further, students have state-of-the-art instructional equipment and technology at their fingertips. They can work with the university’s all-sky camera, or conduct research in NMU’s two undergraduate observatories, each of which house a 16-inch Schmidt telescope, or in more than a dozen other types of scientific laboratories. Additionally, junior- and senior-level students have the opportunity to have space to study and conduct research in a quiet, peaceful environment.