The Undergraduate UMass Boston Navitas GSSP is the first year of a bachelor’s degree program at UMass Boston. The Navitas GSSP consists of for-credit coursework and provides an academic and cultural bridge from the high school experience to studying at a university in the United States. When students successfully complete the UMass Boston Navitas GSSP, they will progress directly into the second year of their undergraduate degree program.

In the minds of many students, physics is often conflated with mathematics and to counter this view, the program design places a strong emphasis on the empirical motivation behind physical concepts. This is implemented both through experimental and computational courses as well as a growing number of cross-disciplinary offerings which serve to illustrate the physical approach to problem-solving and the recognition of patterns.

A Bachelor of Science in Physics will prepare students for demanding scientific research in any of the following areas of inquiry: non-linear optics and photonics, which can relate to laser eye protection; biomedical imaging; quantum dynamics; semiconductors; and even biological applications such as the acoustics of whale sonar.

Upon graduation, students will acquire:

• Appropriate competence in physics foundations and have been given a working knowledge of methodologies in a wide range of sub-fields in modern physics.
• Competence in laboratory skills and can work independently.
• The ability to select from an array of analytic and computational tools to solve specific problems.
• The ability to scientifically justify this decision and gauge its efficacy and methodologies in a wide range of sub-fields in modern physics.
• Competence in laboratory skills and can work independently.
• The ability to select from an array of analytic and computational tools to solve specific problems.
• The ability to scientifically justify this decision and gauge its efficacy.
• The ability to extend ideas from one area of physics to problems in other areas or disciplines.
• Broad awareness of the challenging and open problems of the day.
• The engagement in research at the earliest opportunity.
• The ability to relate and articulate the connections between abstract theoretical constructs and reality.