Both courses have a strong laboratory component so that midshipmen can experience the experimental side of science regardless of major. The department maintains general science laboratories that incorporate the recent technologies of microelectronics, lasers and computers. New state of the art equipment using PC-based data acquisition has been purchased for the recently constructed nuclear lab. A new Engineering Chemistry lab, also utilizing PC-based data acquisition, recently has come on line. The department is also responsible for the operation of the Class of 81 Astronomical Observatory.
All midshipmen take two terms of Calculus.
Because mathematics is so important to nearly every area of study at the Academy, all entering midshipmen take an examination administered by the department. Those students who are determined to be weak in math are placed in an extended program during their first Calculus course. This provides them with an extra hour of math instruction per week. The physics and chemistry courses are rigorous. The physics course is a calculus-based course and is taken concurrently with Calculus.