Areas of Study
All students in the Master’s-to-PhD Bridge program begin by working toward a Master’s degree in physics or biology or chemistry. Thus all students complete a core set of graduate-level courses in physics or biology or chemistry (see the program requirements for more details).
Areas of Master’s Research:
In addition, electives are chosen in consultation with the student’s Fisk and Vanderbilt advisors based upon the intended area of PhD study. The areas of PhD study currently available to Bridge program students are listed here, along with the Vanderbilt department or program corresponding to each:
Vanderbilt Department or Program AreaS of PhD Research
Department of Physics & Astronomy
Astronomy, astrophysics, cosmology
Biological physics
Condensed matter physics
Nuclear and particle physics
Medical and health physics
Department of Biological Sciences
Biochemistry
Cellular and Molecular Biology
Developmental Biology
Ecology and Evolution
Genetics
Neurobiology
Structural Biology
Interdisciplinary Graduate Program
Biological Sciences
Cancer Biology
Chemical and Physical Biology
Human Genetics
Microbiology and Immunology
Molecular Physiology and Biophysics
Neurosciences
Pharmacology
Interdisciplinary Program in Materials Science
Carbon nanostructures
Cellular-nanostructure interface
Nanoscale devices and nanocrystals
Spintronics in nano-structured materials
Linear and non-linear optical properties of nanoparticles
Organic chemistry
Polymer chemistry
Vanderbilt Institute for Imaging Science
Cancer and cardiovascular imaging
Cellular and molecular imaging
Functional and structural neuro-imaging
Image processing and analysis
Physics of imaging and spectroscopy