Space & Planetary Science-Focused PhD Curriculum at the University of Texas at San Antonio and the Southwest Research Institute

In 2005 the University of Texas San Antonio (UTSA) formed a unique collaborative partnership with the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) to offer a physics PhD program with a strong emphasis on a Space & Planetary Science-based curriculum and on training the next generation of scientists in the development of space flight hardware. In this program, 17 SwRI staff scientists serve as Adjoint Professors, teach graduate-level classes, and supervise PhD students who conduct their research while working in SwRI's laboratories. Like other physics PhD programs, students are required to pass four core physics classes: Classical Mechanics, Electrodynamics, Statistical mechanics and Quantum Mechanics. In addition, over a 2-year academic period, PhD students are offered seven graduate-level courses taught by the SwRI Adjoint faculty. This curriculum comprises two introductory courses, (1) Fundamentals of Space Physics and (2) Space Physics Laboratory, and five upper level courses, (1) Plasma Physics & Magnetohydrodynamics, (2) Solar & Heliospheric Physics, (3) Magnetospheric Physics, (4) Planetary Science, and (5) Ionospheric Physics. Lectures and course materials are regularly updated based on new scientific developments, thus ensuring an in-depth and up-to-date curriculum. UTSA-SwRI PhD students engage in data analysis and instrument design & calibration for ongoing space missions such as New Horizons, ACE, STEREO, Wind, IBEX, Juno, Van Allen Probes, MMS, and Parker Solar Probe, and future missions such as Solar Orbiter, BepiColombo, Europa Clipper, Lucy, JuICE, IMAP, PuNCH, and TRACERS. The UTSA-SwRI program helps curtail the erosion of a skilled workforce trained in spaceflight hardware development, and ensure the sustainability, success, and growth of the U.S. space program. This talk discusses details of this joint PhD program, its motivation, teaching and training philosophy, student experiences, and alumni successes.