“One of the unique things about our students is that they often end up in product or team leadership positions very early on in their career,” says Dr. Marziali
- Program:
Engineering physics might not be as well known as some of the more traditional engineering disciplines, but it definitely has an outsized impact.
Engineering physics is positioned at the very edge of innovation, bringing together engineering and physics to enable the invention of new devices, advances in scientific understanding and the creation of new impactful technologies.
What is engineering physics?
Engineering physics is a broad program that is as much math and physics as it is engineering. As Program Director (and Eng Phys alum) Dr. Andre Marziali says, “This is as much an honours physics degree as it is a broad engineering degree.”
In addition to gaining an unsurpassed foundation in physics and math, students learn core mechanical, electrical and software engineering skills.
This combination sets students up to excel in research and innovation in virtually any industry, from working at the smallest scale (quantum computing and biotechnology) to the largest (aerospace and astronomy) and everything in between, from fusion energy to robotics.
“Typically, scientists are engaged in research to come up with new understandings, with engineers translating and applying that knowledge into products and processes,” says Dr. Marziali.
“The cool thing is that engineering physics trains you to do both, making it a great choice for people who want to be at the forefront of technology and innovation.”
What can I do with a degree in engineering physics?
The breadth of the degree – combined with its depth – sets students up to pursue careers in many different areas. Dr. Marziali says that about one-third of graduates go on to pursue additional degrees – either master’s or doctoral degrees in engineering, but also in math, physics or other areas. Engineering physics is also a great launching pad for pursuing other professional degrees, such as medicine or law.
Most graduates pursue careers in industry, working in a diverse array of fields and at the forefront of innovation. As Dr. Marziali says, “It’s hard to find any areas of innovation that don’t involve physics!”
For example, breakthroughs in quantum devices and quantum computing – where you are working at the scale of nanometers – require engineers with a deep understanding of physics. This also applies to biology, where there is a lot of physics involved as we drill down to the molecular level of cells, such as developing nanometer-scale micromachines to sequence DNA.
At the other end of the scale, many alumni end up working in aerospace, astronomical device development and satellites.
“One of the unique things about our students is that they often end up in product or team leadership positions very early on in their career,” says Dr. Marziali.
“This is because they have such a broad training and therefore have knowledge of so many different elements of engineering, from electrical to software to mechanical design.”
Many students end up as entrepreneurs. Dr. Marziali says there are at least 50 companies started by alumni (including Boreal Genomics, a company he started in 2007, which developed innovative diagnostic tools for detecting cancer). Many of the professors have industry experience as founders of tech start-ups and they are keen to share their insights on what is required to advance an idea through commercialization.
What’s it like to study engineering physics at UBC?
Students can expect a more intense workload than in other engineering options, with students often taking six or seven courses per term.
You can choose from a wide range of specializations depending on your interests, from focusing in on another engineering discipline or taking a concentration of electives in applied math or technology entrepreneurship.
Engineering Physics Courses Approved Technical Electives
Co-op work terms are built into the curriculum so that students progress as a cohort from one year to the next, with all students on a co-op or exchange term at the same time.
One noteworthy highlight of engineering physics at UBC is what is affectionally known as “robot summer”. In the summer of their second year in the program, engineering physics students take several courses over 13 weeks, with one course focusing entirely on designing and building robots.
In the summer of 2024, for example, the challenge was to design and build two robots capable of collaborating autonomously to prepare a multi-component (plastic) burger.
Watch Burger bots: UBC Engineering students go head to head in autonomous design.
“We want to get students building things and solving problems,” says Dr. Marziali.
“They are using control theory before taking a control theory course and designing circuits having not taken an advanced circuit design course. Later in their degree they will explore these concepts in theoretical courses, and the content will have that much more meaning because they will have had this hands-on experience ahead of time.”
Engineering Physics students do capstone projects in both of the final two years of their degree, often with the same client if the project warrants it. In 2024, one third-year group worked with General Fusion to image the surface of their liquid metal reactor.
Interested?
It’s highly competitive to get into engineering physics. Admission is based on first year grades, with particular attention paid to final marks in math and physics courses. Students are also interviewed for their emotional competencies, leadership potential, communication skills and resilience.
Learn more about engineering physics:
- Check out our web page for prospective students, including videos
- Read profiles of current engineering physics students and alumni by filtering your search for “engineering physics.”
