What Can I do With a Degree in Physics?

Career Center Library Resources
The Career Center Library has a variety of resources to help students explore potential career fields. These resources include information about typical responsibilities, qualifications, career paths, job outlook, salary, and related careers.

Books Specifically Related to Physics Majors

• Careers in Science
• Job Choices in Science and Engineering
• Opportunities in Research and Development Careers
• Careers in Engineering

Books of General Interest to Liberal Arts Majors

• Great Jobs for Liberal Arts Majors
• The Best Jobs for the 21st Century
• The Career Guide for Creative and Unconventional People
• Making a Living While Making a Difference
• Real People Working in Science
• Careers in High Tech

Vocational Biographies
Vocational Biographies (http://www.vocbiosonline.com/login.php) describes the career success stories of 1001 real people. Search by career title, keyword, topic, and career cluster. Username: portland su and pass code: 3w9n

• Geophysicist
  
• Kinesiologist
  
• Nuclear Imaging Technologist
  
• Astronomer
  

Professional Associations

• American Institute of Physics (AIP)
• American Physical Society (APS)
• Institute of Physics (IOP)

Internet Sites with Career-Related Information for Physics Majors

• Major: Physics — From the Academic Advising and Career Development Center at James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Virginia. Lists potential job titles for physics majors and answers frequently asked questions about a major in physics.
• What can I do with a major in...Physics? — Produced by the Career Services Center at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington, North Carolina. Includes job titles of UNCW students who graduated with a physics major.
• Physics —Lists potential job titles and related skills. From the University Career and Employment Services at the University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas.
• College Majors and Career Opportunities - Physics — Lists related occupations and types of employers. From Career Services, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey.
• Physicists and Astronomers — From the Occupational Outlook Handbook.
• Career Services: Physics Careers Information Archives — From the American Institute of Physics. "Hundreds of physicists have posted their biographies and have answered questions about diverse areas of work outside academia. Many discuss how they reached their present position, and how the work relates to the physics they studied."
• Physics: What Can I Do With This Major? — Outlines common career areas, identifies typical employers, and suggests general strategies to enhance employability. From Career Services at the University of Tennessee.

Internet Sites with Job Search Information for Physics Majors

• American Institute of Physics Job Opportunities — "Job Opportunities is an online searchable jobs database, which is updated daily. There are hundreds of jobs posted each month..."
• Internships in the Physical Sciences — Internship resources from the American Institute of Physics.
• American Physical Society Job Openings — Small list of jobs for physicists.
• Monster.com — Jobsearch — Search with keyword 'physics' yielded 1284 jobs on 12/3/01.
• Sloan Career Cornerstone Center — Job listings for Physics Majors

Places of Employment
Physics majors may find employment in a variety of fields depending on their skills and experience. Places of employment for physics majors include: government agencies, businesses (high-tech, research, engineering, and consulting firms) and educational institutions. The organizations linked below have posted positions that require either a bachelor's or master's degree in physics.

The following list of employers and job titles was derived from the Career Center's jobs database where the employer specifically requested physics majors. This list does not reflect all potential places of employment or kinds of jobs for physics majors. This list does not reflect current openings.

• Ash Grove Cement Company — Chemical Analyst
• Boeing Employment — Job Search — Search jobs database by keyword.
• Columbia Basin College — Physics Instructor
• Columbia Sportswear Company — Telecommunications Engineer III
  
• Contra Costa County — Weights and Measures Inspector Trainee
• Cowlitz County — Environmental Health Specialist 1-2
  
• Environmental Careers Organization (ECO) — Environmental Jobs
• FEI— Manufacturing Technician
  
• HSBC USA — Customer Information Management Analyst
• Intel Corporation — Semiconductor Manufacturing Technicians
  
• KHM Environmental Management, Inc. — Environmental Technician
  
• Kinetics
• Lattice Semiconductor Corporation — Reliability Engineering Manager
• Logicon — Employment Opportunities — Sample job titles include: Programmer/Analyst, Software Developers, Programmer, System/Software Engineer, Database Developer, Software Analyst, Personal Computer System Administrator.
• Mentor Graphics — Careers — Sample job title: Software Development Engineer
• Mercer Delta Company — Fulfillment Coordinator
  
• Merix Corporation — Laboratory Technician I/II
• Micron Technology, Inc. — Parametric Engineer, FAB Engineer
• Microsoft Corporation — Software Engineering Apprentice (SEA) Program
  
• MicroStructure Technologies — Lab Technician
  
• Mt. Hood Community College — Science Lab Coordinator
  
• National Research Council — Research Associateship Programs
• Nichols Research — Search jobs database by keyword.
• Oregon Department of Energy — Program Technician 2 - Energy Specialist
  
• Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) — Engineering Specialist 3 (Project Inspector)
• Oregon State University — Faculty Research Assistant - Pesticide Sprayer Technology, Faculty Research Assistant, MCAREC, Postdoctoral Research Assoicate - Oceanographic Data Assimilation
  
• Oregon State University - College of Oceanic & Atmospheric Sciences — Postdoctoral Research Associate -Oceanic CTZ
• OverEngineering Corporation — Software Engineer II
  
• Picosecond Pulse Labs, Inc. — Test Engineer
  
• Quantec, LLC — Analyst
  
• Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC): Job Opportunities — "SAIC is the largest employee-owned research and engineering company in the United States." Sample job titles include entry-level research scientist, Junior Systems Analyst, Junior Programmer Analyst, and General Scientist.
• US Navy Recruiting, Portland District — Instructor
• WaferTech — Product Engineer
  
• Xerox Corporation — Physics Engineer
  

Miscellaneous

• Physics in High School and 2-Year Colleges — Report from the American Institute of Physics.
• American Institute of Physics.
• Trends in Undergraduate and Graduate Education: Physics and Astronomy — Report from the American Institute of Physics.
• Latest Employment Data for Physicists — Report from the American Institute of Physics.
• SURFing the Physics Lab — "The Physics Laboratory at the National Institute of Standards and Technology has a 12 week Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship program providing hands-on research experience in Atomic, Molecular, Optical, Radiation and Chemical Physics."
• PhysicsWeb Job Listings — From Institute of Physics Publishing. Lists academic and nonacademic jobs in the UK.

Department of Physics - Portland State University