Our most important resource is people. This includes you! Getting to know your instructors and other people in the department is one of the most important investments you can make for your future career. This responsibility is as much yours as it is theirs. Make sure you use this opportunity to the fullest. I am here to assist you and provide counseling.

Our program in Physics has much to offer you. We live in an era of transition. Your generation will decide how we move forward during this period of rapid technological, social and environmental change. Flexibility of thought, adaptability and deep insight are urgently needed now and will be in the future. Physics provides these within a broad, rigorous scientific framework. Physics is much more than just the study of certain topics such as light, mechanics and electricity. It provides the fundamental conceptual tools needed for a detailed, quantitative understanding of physical phenomena at every scale in nature. These tools take one beyond the specifics of the particular problem being examined and can be applied in many, diverse situations.

Physicists are employed in a broad range of industries, wherever quantitative problem solving skills are valued. You will find people with physics training in all the obvious occupations such as teaching, research, medicine, geophysical exploration, and atmospheric science. You will also find many as officers in diverse corporations, such as telecommunications and finance. Physics training will give you the intellectual toolkit to shape your future and to hammer out solutions to new challenges, many of which we don't even know exist yet.

Prof. Peter Krieger
Associate Chair,
Undergraduate Studies
ugchair@physics.utoronto.ca