The Department of Physics teaches graduate students advanced concepts, applications and skills that reach to the frontiers of current research in physics. The master's program offers traditional core physics courses and a variety of specialized electives emphasizing the department's strengths in theoretical and experimental physics. Research interests include theoretical and experimental condensed matter physics, general relativity and cosmology.The basic mission of the physics department is the generation and dissemination of knowledge about the discipline of physics and the training of students in the basic skills of that discipline. We prepare our undergraduate students for a wide variety of careers in technical disciplines. To Physics Graduate Students we teach advanced concepts, applications, and skills that reach to the frontiers of current research in physics. Our research activities keep our faculty at the frontiers of knowledge and offer both our undergraduate and our graduate students opportunities to participate in advancing those frontiers.