UTSA-SwRI Space Physics
Graduate Program

Students (Ph.D. and Thesis-Option Master's) who receive a minimum of 2 A's and 2 B's from the four core classes automatically pass the written qualifiers, and so do not have to take a separate exam. If you need to take the written qualifiers you will most likely do that at the start of your 2nd year or after your core classes (Quantum Mechanics, Electrodynamics, Statistical Mechanics, and Classical Mechanics) are completed. By passing the written qualifiers, students can then move on to preparing for oral qualifiers.

One of the unique features of this program is working as a research assistant right away. Through the research assistantship offered by joint program, you have an adjoint faculty researcher at SwRI under which you will start a project when you first arrive. SwRI/UTSA students are generally not required to be teaching assistants throughout their time in the program.

Yes, we have had a couple of alumni graduate with a M.S. in Physics. Sometimes this is better suited for your career path, such as if you want to go into industry. All Master's degrees in this program are thesis-option M.S. degrees.

A current list of graduate students in the program can be found here. The list of alumni that have graduated from the joint program since it started in 2005 can be found here.

SwRI houses active and prolific researchers in space physics that are able to focus solely on research, unlike a pure academic setting where professors have large commitments to classes. SwRI offers a professional environment in which you can work side-by-side with experts in their field across disciplines to solve problems, key to development as a career-scientist. We have the unique position of being allowed to grow in experience in instrumentation, a niche skill that can be effectively developed as a graduate student, which makes students from the program stand out from the increasingly competitive field. Every student will be encouraged and [...]

Students in the SwRI/UTSA program receive a Research Assistantship offer. This assistanship covers the tuition and fees for the academic year for a full-time graduate student, as well as a stipend paid out to the student. The stipend is disbursed on the first of every month for the previous month's work. If you start in the fall, your official start date is the start of the semester, and so your first payment will be in October. If you start in spring you will receive your first stipend in February. The Research Assistantship is annually renewed, and allows for research to begin [...]