Department Testimonials

"The holistic view of PhD education at KU helped me build the transferable skills I needed to excel in the private sector. Emphasis on strong analytic thinking skills, ability to learn new things quickly and being able to effectively express myself gave me a competitive edge and continue to serve me well in the fast changing world of AI!" - Mihailo Backovic, PhD, 2011

"Having direct access to department professors and research opportunities as an undergraduate student was extremely valuable. My time at KU physics and astronomy gave me hands-on experience of what research would be like at the graduate level and beyond and prepared me well for further studies." – Judy Yu

"The skills I developed at KU enabled me not only to become a successful researcher, but have aided me in finding and thriving in my post-graduate career. Through my graduate research I was able to meet, collaborate, and befriend so many people from around the world and enrich both my physics and cultural perspectives. I could not be more thankful to my adviser, Steve Sanders, for the direction, freedom, and trust he gave me while pursuing my PhD. I am the physicist I am today because of him and I hope to emulate his mentorship for the generations to come after me. No matter where I go, I always carry a Jayhawk to put on my desk to remind me where I came from. I cherish the time I had at KU.” – James Castle, PhD, 2017

"Graduating from the KU Physics Department in 2016 was a foundational step in my career. Today, Physicist in the San Francisco Bay Area, I constantly draw upon the skills I developed during my time there. The rigorous experimental work I dedicated myself to—both on weekdays and weekends—truly shaped my professional character. It instilled in me the courage to tackle new challenges fearlessly, a relentless drive to learn, and the resilience needed to succeed in a fast-paced industry." — Jatinder Kumar, PhD, 2016