Department of Physics and Astronomy
Significant goals:
The department takes off with the academic plan, research activities and general services in a strategic way. It aims at establishment of organized education with a view to develop the skills of students, out going graduates and researchers to deal with the following:
Setting up of knowledge of physics in both theoretical and practical fields.
To cope with the growing demand and to work with the modern techniques in terms of knowledge and application in the practical life.
OPPORTUNITIES
I.The department offers a graduate level study programme which includes the numerous courses of physics in both theoretical and experimental fields.This graduate degree program is designed keeping in view of the job opportunities available to physicists after graduation.Some of them are as follows:
Teaching jobs in Schools, Institutes and Universities.
Research based jobs in Research centers and Universities.
Jobs in industries including R&D (Research of Development) of departments.
Jobs in the medical and health science labs which include hospitals to run the instruments and supervise their maintenance and work for the pollution treatment.
Jobs in various energy production centers e.g. Electrical, Nuclear and up coming new energy fields.
II.The department comprises of seven Research groups. Each one of them is complete in terms of research labs and resources.They are mainly:
1-Nuclear Physics Group:
There are many research labs belonging to this group. Some of them include Van de Graaf Accelerator Lab. Analytical lab of thermo optics, TLD and radiation contamination in good stuff and other materials. Neutron physics lab and many more.
2- Material Science Physics Group:
This group has many research labs. Among them the prominent ones are (EPR) Electron Para Magnetic resonance Lab, Crystal growth Lab and many instruments to study the properties of materials.
3- Solar Energy Research Group:
Research in this group includes the study of the basic properties of materials being used in the fabrication of solar cells as well as their structural, electrical & optical properties. Their labs are equipped with thin film coating units/setups and instruments for characterization of materials & solar cells.
4- Theoretical Physics Group:
High standard research work is being done on fundamental particles in addition to the study of universe, solid state physics and semiconductors.
5- Laser Research Group:
Laser has become a vital part of many techniques being used to develop the equipment for various applications in the fields of medicine, engineering and Military. Therefore, this group enjoys good research facilities in their labs which include several modern laser sources of different wavelengths with high energies to be employed for the above mentioned purposes.
6-Medical and Biophysics Group:
Research concentration of this group is mainly for the bio-medical work and to study the effect of some of the physical phenomenon on living beings and to use the results for the welfare of mankind, e.g. electromagnetic induction and non ionizing radiation etc.
7-Astronomy Research Group:
This group has facilities like astronomical telescope which can be used for astronomical photography, electro optics and spectral analysis.
III.The department offers M.Sc. & Ph.D. degree programs based on the strength of the research groups which take responsibility of teaching courses, supervise their students and provide the necessary facilities required for their particular research.
IV.The department takes up the responsibility of teaching the physics courses to the students of Professional colleges like Engineering, Computer Science, building and architecture and also contributes towards the teaching of Physics syllabus (for health sciences programme) to the students of Medical, Dentistry, Pharmacy and Applied medical science colleges.
V.The department organizes various training and development of skills programs in co-ordination with other competent bodies inside and out side the university. These activities help the employees of the department to consult, share and exchange the professional knowledge and skills with others.
VI.The department offers the opportunity to general public by organizing the exhibition for the display of scientific and astronomical phenomenon.Also an open evening activity is arranged every Monday by showing the heavenly bodies in the observatory through the astronomical telescope.
Title-contact:
Head of the department:+9661 - 4676380
Secretary to the head of department:+9661-4676378,+9661-4676379
Fax:9661–4673656
Postal address:P.O. Box 2455, Riyadh, Zip Code 11451
E-mail:physics@ksu.edu.sa