The faculty of the department strongly support the involvement of students in active research programs, which provide learning experience outside the traditional classroom setting. Historically, the success of physics graduates in gaining admission to graduate school or entering the technical workforce has been excellent. The strong fundamental background provided by our courses and the exposure of students to unique research opportunities, in the context of an outstanding liberal arts program, have produced this record of success. I encourage you to visit Linfield and examine our program for yourself. Each of our physics students completes a senior thesis project as a requirement for graduation.
Some students choose to do summer internships elsewhere, which can provide suitable projects.
For example, in summer 1998 and 1999 students participated in summer internships at Clemson University, Cornell University, Michigan State University, and University of Alaska. In Summer 2000, Stanford University, the University of Nevada, and the University of New Mexico will be added to the list. We have had good success in placing students in these programs. Many of our students have worked on research during each of their years at Linfield, and this valuable experience contributes to their success after graduation. The department lecture and teaching laboratory space, as well as collaborative research space, are good, and they will be enlarged and improved over the next few years as the college expands into the newly-acquired Keck Campus.