After completion of the coursework, Ph.D. students will engage in a 12 month long apprenticeship in industry. The apprenticeship is a unique part of the graduate program and is required of all Ph.D. students. It is designed to give students first-hand knowledge of the industrial world and to provide them with valuable work experience in industry.
Students work on problems of interest to the industrial partner at the industrial partner site.
The program is designed to promote building of problem solving skills of the student and serves as a capstone for their coursework phase. An intellectual property agreement will be signed to protect the rights of the students, the company, and the University. The apprenticeship serves the students by introducing them to the industrial environment, and partnering them with an industrial mentor who will serve on the student's dissertation committee through the rest of their degree progress. Upon the student's return they will take an oral exam on their apprenticeship, and will begin the final phase of the program which is their independent research project. Copyright 1999 Georgetown University Dept. of Physics.