CUGS: Health Physics

CUGS: Health Physics

Health Physics CUGS

The Certificate of Undergraduate Study (CUGS) in Health Physics provides a sequence of courses that combines Physics topics (such as nuclear, particle, and radiation physics) with necessary biological topics (such as biophysics and physiology) enabling students to pursue certification or higher degree training in the areas of Health Physics and Medical Physics.

Requirements (13 semester hours)

Course Semester hours
Modern Physics (PHYS00.300) 4
Introduction to Radiation Physics (PHYS00.375) 4
Radiation: Effects and Applications (PHYS00.477) 3
Radiation Instrumentation (PHYS00.479) 2

All course must be completed with at least a 2.0 grade. The pre-requisites for Modern Physics (effectively, one
year of introductory physics with calculus) make this CUGS best suited for students majoring in Biochemistry,
Biophysics, Chemistry, Physics, and Engineering. It is highly recommended that students take Ordinary Differential Equations (MATH01.231) if they pursue this CUGS.

Note: students majoring in BS Physics can only apply one of the three courses beyond Modern Physics (PHYS.00.300) as a program Restricted Elective, the others must be taken as Free Electives. This means that BS Physics majors will still have to complete 7–9 more credits of Restricted Electives.

Students interested in health physics as a career should visit the Health Physics Scociety student's web site.  Memebership is free for the first year and student members are eligible for scholarhips and travel grants (apply in late Jan to early Feb) to the annual conference (talks and networking!) which is typically in July.