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Interview with recent graduates currently in the workforce

This is one in a series of interviews with recent graduates who have completed a 3 or 4 year or Honours level undergraduate degree with a Physics major or a Physics-based multidisciplinary major. We’d value your opinions on your undergraduate Physics and how well it prepared you for the workforce.

Please fill in the following table of personal details:

Age	23
Gender	Male
Did you do high school physics?	Yes
Why did you decide to do Physics?	Curious how things worked, e.g. locks, cars, from young age. In Year 7 read a popular Quantum Mechanics book.
Undergraduate degree completed	BSc Honours
When and where did you graduate?	2002
Have you completed any other degrees?	No
Current position	Accelerator Physicist, Australian Synchrotron project.

I’d now like to ask you a series of questions pertaining to your Physics undergraduate studies (Physics below may be read as `multidisciplinary’ if appropriate).

1. What features of your undergraduate Physics studies were of most help to your learning?

Laboratory classes, Conceptual Understanding in Physics sessions (on topics such as forces, Spec Relativity). Third year theoretical seminars (mentioned later in interview) were very helpful, broadening knowledge and offering more teamwork/interaction).

2. How were you made aware of employment opportunities for Physics graduates in your undergraduate Physics studies?

In 1st – 2nd year, really didn’t know. In 3rd year, Profession Studies sub-unit was very useful. The Uni Student Employment Advisory unit helped a bit, but not so useful for Science. (Note – couldn’t remember details of information provided in 1st year.)

3. What aspects of your Physics education have helped you most in your career?

Analytical thinking, problem solving, information retrieval i.e. ability to read article, know how to find references/other sources, and be able to explain and put together the overall picture.

4. Is it an advantage having done Physics? Do you think you have an advantage over graduates from other disciplines? How?

Yes. Engineering grads also employed at the Australian Synchrotron Project. With physics you get more details; engineering grads are more focused on calculations. This job is physics-focussed by nature, though of course the project has people in various areas.

Are there special knowledge and skills that Physics provides?

Yes, EM theory, relativity, forces (all absolutely necessary).

Graduate attributes table

Please fill in the following table by ticking the box that represents the level to which a particular attribute was used or developed in your undergraduate Physics subjects.

Attribute	not at all	a little	some	a lot
computational skills		X
consideration of ethical and social issues			X
experimental design		X
information retrieval				X
laboratory skills				X
oral communication			X
problem solving				X
project planning	X
research methodology			X
teamwork			X
written communication				X

Please say if there was another valuable attribute or further comments.

More practical classes in u/grad years, to build up abilities. (Interviewee chose Theoretical stream in 3rd year, hence did a token amount of experimental work at 3^rd year.) More guidance in solving challenging problems. Concluding comments on what it was like doing 3^rd year lab (not enough help from staff) and doing Honours project (very small class, lacked opportunity for interaction with peers).