/College of Arts and Sciences
Department of Physics and Astronomy

Master of Science in Instrumentation

If you really enjoy making things work. If you really enjoy making things that work.

Program Overview

This two-year Master’s degree, the Master of Science in Instrumentation (MSI), prepares professionals with the technical background of physicists. It is offered at Stony Brook University to those who wish to enter a growing area of science. Our alumni have enjoyed multiple job offers, even in challenging times.

Instrumentation has always been at the heart of scientific advances, and will continue to dominate in the foreseeable future. Beginning with telescopes and microscopes, and advancing through spectroscopes and oscilloscopes, such “scopes” have enabled people to “see” things beyond the limits imposed by their sensory mechanisms. The evolution went from seeing to measuring, and then the concept of instruments changed drastically. We have developed generators, accelerators, lasers, and myriad other devices that could modify objects or create events, instead of just observing them. If you are a physical science major and more of a lab person than anything else, then you should look at our Master of Science Degree in Physics with Concentration in Instrumentation.

The Master of Science in Physics with Concentration in Instrumentation program at Stony Brook is designed to train professional physicists for careers in research at the frontiers of knowledge in universities, modern industries, government labs, hospitals, and other technologically oriented enterprises. Highly educated scientists at the Master’s level are in great demand, and that need is expected to increase as the employment in the US is moving towards more high-tech jobs.

For questions specific to the MSI program, contact Professor Harold Metcalf.

Tracks

There are multiple tracks through the MSI program, letting you focus your coursework on a specific area of interest alongside the required minor and major laboratory projects.

General Instrumentation

This track is designed to meet the needs of modern industry, hospitals, and research laboratories for technically trained people with thorough scientific background and practical skills in designing, building, and operating scientific instruments. Such jobs are often filled by people whose education is not directed toward this particular need. Many of them presently take on-the-job training in precisely the topics this program teaches.

Synchrotron Radiation

This track is coordinated with the needs of NSLS II at nearby Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), and many of our graduates may find attractive job opportunities there. Students in this track should take “Applications of Synchrotron Radiation”. Fellowships for tuition and stipend are available from BNL.

Accelerator Physics

This track is for students interested in accelerator instrumentation and the operation of particle accelerators. Stony Brook and BNL scientists involved in the Center for Accelerator Science and Education (CASE) will offer training through lecture courses, laboratory practice and experiments on accelerators. Students on this track are required to take “Introduction to Accelerator Physics”. Fellowships for tuition and stipend are available from CASE or from BNL.

MSI Degree Requirements

For the MSI degree students must:

  • Complete a minimum of thirty credits of graduate courses (500 level or above).
  • Complete a Master’s thesis describing a major piece of work in scientific instrumentation. It must be written up as a thesis – not just a paper or a research note – in a form acceptable to the Graduate School. It need not be original research in the same sense as a PhD thesis, but should reflect a full year of full-time effort: an improvement on the state of the art, a sophisticated or automated apparatus, or another significant laboratory project. The thesis is presented before a committee.
  • Demonstrate proficiency in physics at the level of PHY 335 (Junior Laboratory I) and PHY 405 (Advanced Quantum Physics), plus two of three areas: Nuclear and Particle Physics (PHY 431), Condensed Matter Physics (PHY 472), and Laser and Atomic Physics (PHY 452). Satisfy this with prior undergraduate coursework accepted by the MSI Committee, a specially arranged written exam, or the appropriate courses taken during the program.
  • Complete a minor project.
  • Take a course about research instrumentation (PHY 514).
  • Take the graduate lab (PHY 515) and two semesters of graduate seminar (PHY 598 and 599).
  • Work as a Teaching Assistant in an undergraduate laboratory for at least one semester. TAing PHY 445 may also satisfy the second semester of the graduate lab requirement (PHY 515).

Students also need to acquire whatever technical skills their thesis advisor requires, including at minimum machining capability and computer literacy. Other departments – instrumentation, materials science, and the like – often offer suitable electives; permission may be granted to reduce thesis credits, or take some in the summer, to make room for them.

Tracks within the MSI program offer an opportunity to take courses in a specific area of interest, for example, Accelerator Physics or Synchrotron Radiation.

Sample Schedule for the MSI Program

The default MSI schedule totals 44 credits over two years; the specific courses listed below are required.