利莫利克大学

Why Study Applied Physics in UL?

The UL link with industry is one of the strongest in Ireland. With both directly funded and state-sponsored active collaborative research, the Department of Physics at UL is working with companies such as Analog Devices, COOK Medical, Intel, and BorgWarner. In addition to advancing science and developing new products, this engagement also creates employment opportunities for the graduates of the BSc in Applied Physics course. UL’s pioneering Cooperative placement programme also ensures that the graduates are engaged with industry from an early stage of their career and can adapt to the high levels of skill and professionalism required in industry.

Faculty members teaching this course are deeply involved in research and are continually generating scientific breakthroughs and next generation technologies. The Department has an outstanding track record in scientific publications, patents and generation of intellectual property. Examples of scientific advances and technological innovations pioneered in the Department include piezoelectricity in synthetic bone material, infrared nanoscopy, and vanadium redox flow batteries.

Many of the Department’s faculty members are also members of the Bernal Institute, one of the leading research institutes in Ireland, which houses nationally unique microscopy, spectroscopy and process infrastructure. Students gain access to this infrastructure through undergraduate laboratory courses and fourth year projects.

In short, the top reasons for studying applied physics at UL are:

1. A pragmatic balance between fundamental and applied aspects of physics.

2. Strong emphasis on problem-solving skills making graduates highly desirable as employees in industry, academia and research.

3. Strong engagement in research ensuring that graduates are up to date with the latest developments in applied physics.

4. Outstanding links with local industry for cooperative placement, collaborative research and employment.

5. A friendly, collaborative, and highly collegial environment that stimulates innovative thinking and promotes the highest standard of accomplishment in tackling challenges.

Career Prospects

The Applied Physics degree grants flexibility and freedom in choosing a career. Applied physics has the obvious advantage over pure physics courses, for example astrophysics, in that our graduates are better positioned to fill lucrative industrial roles.

Many of our graduates, for instance, are employed by market leaders such as Intel Ireland and Analog Devices. Yet Applied Physics is sufficiently broad in scope that our graduates also work throughout the high technology sector in companies focused on areas such as energy, telecommunications, medical physics and nano-technology.

Applied Physics is sufficiently broad in scope that our graduates are working throughout the high technology sector in areas including computer software (Google, Avaya), electronics (Molex, Microsemi), enterprise services (Accenture, SAP), and medical devices (Boston Scientific, Medtronic, Johnson & Johnson, and Stryker).

Recent graduates have established careers in areas like;

• Semiconductor Devices and Microelectronics
• Lasers and Optoelectronics
• Sensors
• Telecommunications
• Materials Science
• Geophysics
• Bio and Medical Physics
• Energy

Follow-on Study

Our graduates have a good understanding of mathematics and experimental techniques allowing further study to MSc and PhD levels in various areas of science, engineering, mathematics and even quantitative areas of finance and economics.