<p>Hello all!</p>
<p>I'm currently enrolled in the Engineering Physics program at the University of Oklahoma, and I was wondering what the job market is like for an EP major. The program is ABET accredited as well. I love physics and I really want to bridge engineering and research together in my career. Is EP mainly for grad students or can I get a good job with a B.S? Thanks!</p>
<p>Most of the ones I’ve known over the years have gravitated into doing software development in some form or another. Two are radiation/health physicists in the nuclear industry (one works for a government regulator, the other works for a nuclear fuel company).</p>
<p>Although those are all applications of engineering physics, I’m not certain that an EP degree is exactly the best background to becoming a software developer. In the 90s, optics was a really hot field and a lot of guys found jobs in that – but there’s been a lot of shrinkage in opportunities and pay in that area.</p>
<p>Well, physics can pay off as well as engineering if you play your cards right, and the more computer programming you have under your belt the better. I don’t know what Oklahoma’s program is like but the one I’m in allows you to take all the same physics as a physics major, but you get to choose from eight concentrations–CS, EE, Civ, Mech, Aero, Nuc, Mat, Industrial-- and effectively get a minor in your chosen concentration. Physics pairs up really well with CS, Nuc, Mat, and EE, and depending on where you wind up it pairs up really well with Mech and Aero. I don’t see how it pairs up with Industrial, which is more about logistics and operations. I’m surprised they haven’t scrapped that option (or if anybody takes it).</p>
<p>Obviously, it prepares you for graduate study in physics, or graduate study in your chosen concentration of engineering.</p>
<p>With nothing but a BS in eng phys, you could wind up with a job as an engineer or a software developer but that depends very much on your developing those skills in college. Take programming courses, try to get internships and work in labs. Have practical skills that an employer can use. I can’t stress enough how much physics and computer programming go together these days.</p>
<p>I honestly think the job market for any engineering major is better than EP. For EP, you will either end up going to graduate school, or get a software job (and have to compete with CS majors). Some, (a few) graduates can work as EE’s or other engineers but its an uphill battle.</p>
<p>JamesMadison, what do you base that opinion on?</p>
<p>Common sense. Why hire an engineering physics major to do a Mech E job?
Companies are not lined up to recruit EP people specifically…the EPs must adapt to another kind of job in the majority of cases.</p>
<p>I agree with James. For instance, the upcoming career fair at my school lists the majors employers are specifically requesting. 51 companies ask for EE’s, 12 for Civils, 28 for IE’s, 44 for ME’s, and a whopping 2 requesting Engineering Physics.</p>
<p>I don’t know much about engineering physics being a good UNDERGRAD major but I would recommend it as a GRADUATE degree for those (like me) who work as an engineer but do not have an engineering undergrad degree. Since the M.S./M.Eng in engineering physics usually requires only 3 physics courses and the rest in technical electives, it can help your resume with the “check off the box” as far as having an engineering degree. I actually thought about getting a M.S./M.Eng in engineering physics when I was looking at grad schools.</p>
<p>Note: the above would work more for government contracting where degrees are more or less verified as opposed to the details of the degree.</p>
<p>It seems a lot of people don’t understand what EP is. It is physics with an effective minor in a chosen area of engineering. For instance, EE. A person with an EP degree with a concentration in EE will have taken the core EE classes in addition to all of the physics a physics major takes. For instance, my concentration is computer science. I’m essentially a physics majors but I also take a year-long sequence in component-based software design, also system architecture/assembly, systems software, numerical methods, and a smattering or two of whatever other CS topics I wish to study. Unless I wish to, I do not specifically study data base systems or formal languages & automata or compiler design or OS design or networking (analysis of algorithms is covered by my physics curriculum).</p>
<p>Long story short, upon graduation I’ll be more than qualified for many jobs in software, just as an EP with a concentration in aero will have the fundamentals necessary for a job in aerospace (with extra physics skills to boot).</p>
<p>It can directly benefit your engineering skills too. An EP with a Mech. concentration has more of the training necessary to understand and make use of cutting edge technologies and materials that most mech engs don’t study.</p>
<p>The reason you see so few EP job listings isn’t because they don’t get hired, but because most people don’t even know what it is because there are so few engineering physics degrees out there (I think my school of 50,000 students graduates a dozen a year). They have internship pay in the same range as the other proper engineering interns, so employers are interested in them (a disproportionate amount of them go to grad school though). I have Arts&Sciences College Physics major class mates who don’t get what engineering physics is. All it takes is an employer looking at your resume and seeing your skills and knowledge. And any decent college will have an office to interface between grads/interns and employers.</p>
<p>Engineering Physics students can also focus their programs on the applied physics and materials science side of the field. There is a wide range of research here- my interest is nanomaterials with novel optical-electric properties. This is the field where semiconductors and fiberoptics were developed. It sounds like some college programs are computer focussed but UCSB, Stanford, U Penn, CalTech, and Cornell have strong programs in this area.
Grads get jobs with energy companies particularly those researching new solar or new fuel cell tech, nanotech companies and lots of others. There are a number of online sites with physics jobs which are also Engineering Physics, Materials Science, EE and compuiter science ralated.</p>
<p>Prospective recruiters don’t know about EP programs and that is a problem. Typically, many ABET EP approved programs are set up to allow the student, at the UG level, to take an electrical engineering track or aerospace/mechanical engineering track. </p>
<p>Many times with UG degree in EP, it is better to obtain a graduate degree in EE, AE or ME because the EP program is tougher from a math and physics point of view. You have better knowledge of Electricty & Magnetism, Quantum Mechanics, Material Science and Physical Mechanics than your peers at the UG level. So, grad school is much easier in the traditional engr. degree programs.</p>
<p>Bottom line, if you have an EP degree, it will be harder to find a job initially, and you may be better off to pursue a graduate degree; however, if you do find a job, then chances are you will be more knowledgeable than your co-worker engineer and it will quickly show with your employer.</p>
<p>Most engineering physicists I know work closely on the tech side along with electrical engineering and computing grads so the demand probably follows the tech employment market closely.</p>