Graduate Program in Physics at UFSC, Florianópolis

Below is a presentation with general information to students entering the program: Informations to the beginning students

In this case, contact your UFSC graduate program, inform the code of the discipline, and ask the head office of the program to enroll you.
We recommend that you check with your postgraduate program whether the discipline will be included in your credits, which may be necessary to complete your degree in your graduate program.

Those who want to enroll at any of the PPGFSC courses as a special student must observe the enrollment period stated in the semester calendar and follow these procedures:

• Fill in the single course enrollment form;
• Attach the undergraduate academic transcript;
• Collect the signature from the course professor until the last day of the enrollment period (when collecting the professor’s signature, applicants must present a copy of their undergraduate transcript);
• Send in the single course enrollment form, duly completed and signed, together with the undergraduate transcript, until the last day of the enrollment period to the PPGFSC email.

The student who enrolls at any course and no longer wishes to attend it may cancel their course enrollment. To cancel your enrollment, go to the CAPG site. The cancellation period is announced in the semester calendar and on the Program’s notice boards.
For instructions on how to cancel enrollment in a course, see this tutorial.

According to the Art. 42 of the PPGFSC Bylaws, students are allowed to take a leave of absence, provided that the request is justified and complies with the rules established in the Art. 46 of the Normative Resolution no. 95/CUn/2017: the student enrolled in a Graduate Program may request a leave of absence, with the consent of his/her supervisor and at the discretion of the Program’s Council, for up to twelve months, in periods never lower than an academic term. The respective period will not be counted in the time limit for degree completion.

It is not possible to request a leave of absence in the first or in the last academic term, nor during the extension periods for degree completion. On the “Forms” page, you will find a request form to be filled out and submitted for approval to the Program’s Council.

According to the Art. 46 of the Program’s Bylaws, the steps to obtain the master’s or doctoral degree in Physics are:
I – official admission to the Program through one of the mechanisms provided in the articles 34 to 37 of these Bylaws;
II – approval of a thesis or dissertation proposal and of the intended supervisor;
III – completion of all course credits, with grade point average equal to or higher than 7 (seven);
IV – proof of English proficiency;
V – approval in the “PPGFSC Seminars” in at least academic terms;
VI – preparation and defense of a final thesis/dissertation;
VII – for the doctoral degree, in addition to the steps above, it will also be necessary to obtain approval in a qualifying exam and be author or co-author of at least one scientific paper during the doctoral studies, meeting the specific requirements of the Normative Resolution referred to in the art. 27 of these Bylaws.
Failure to comply with the rules and deadlines set in these Bylaws for each step listed in this article will result in sanctions defined by the Program’s Council including the non-provision of financial assistance to the student and/or supervisor, suspension or termination of scholarships, and removal of the student from the Program.

According to the Art. 53, in addition to preparing the thesis, which is worth 6 (six) credits, the master’s student has to obtain a minimum of 24 (twenty-four) credits and:
I – attend all the required courses;
II – obtain a minimum of 4 (four) credits in elective courses, not including those related to the Teaching Practicum;
III – carry out, at least once, a Teaching Practicum;
IV – enroll and be approved in the “PPGFSC Seminars” in at least two academic terms.

According to the Art. 54, in addition to preparing the dissertation, which is worth 12 (twelve) credits, the doctoral student has to obtain a minimum of 48 (forty-eight) credits, and:
I – attended all the required courses;
II – obtain a minimum of 8 (eight) credits in elective courses, not including those related to the Teaching Practicum;
III – carry out, at least once, a Teaching Practicum;
IV – enroll and be approved in the “PPGFSC Seminars” in at least two academic terms.
Credits obtained in the master’s degree can be used to complete the doctoral degree upon approval by the Program’s Council.

In the “Control Sheet” available on our website, students can monitor the steps already taken and those which they still need to complete.

The PPGFSC has the tradition to promote seminars on Friday mornings in the Physics Department Auditorium (room 212).
All master’s and doctoral students must attend these seminars, imperatively in 2 (two) semesters, and obtain a minimum attendance equal to or higher than 75% (seventy-five percent), knowing that this participation does not result in credits, as it is a requirement for degree completion. The talks usually have a general character, but the topics covered are of current research interest.
It is possible to make up for absences in these seminars by participating in other events during the week (dissertation defenses, thesis defenses, qualifying exams, and seminars).

Yes. A student can only defend his/her doctoral dissertation after at least one article – of which s/he is the author or coauthor – has been published or accepted for publication in a peer-reviewed international journal on a topic related to the student’s dissertation.

According to the Art. 44 of the Program’s Bylaws, until the 1st day of the 3rd academic semester, all master’s and doctoral students must provide proof of English proficiency superior or equivalent to the proficiency test that is offered by the UFSC Department of Foreign Language and Literatures (DLLE/UFSC).
A TOEFL certificate with scores equal to or higher than 470 points is also accepted as proof of English proficiency.
Doctoral students must also provide proof of proficiency in a second foreign language, which can be certified by their academic supervisors.

Master’s and doctoral students must submit brief annual reports describing their projects’ progress.
Are exempted from presenting these reports:

• Master’s students at the end of the second year, provided that an extension for degree completion is not necessary;
• Doctoral students at the end of the second year, provided that their qualifying exam is taken within the expected time limit (which is, according to the Program’s Bylaws, up to 2 (two) years after admission);
• Doctoral students at the end of the fourth year, provided that an extension for degree completion is not necessary.

This document will be sent by the Program Coordinator by e-mail 45 days prior to the deadline for submission. Students must then fill in, sign, and hand in the report at the Program’s office. 

According to the art. 57 of the Program Internal Regulation, credits of courses or activities in other courses of stricto sensu Graduate Programs licensed by CAPES may be validated, subjected to the approval of the Delegated Body Collegiate.
To apply for a validation of credits in the course, the student should fill and send the to the PPGFSC Coordination a formulário de validação de créditos em disciplina, containing their school history, as well as the summary program and complete syllabuses of the subjects.

According to the art. 55 of the Program’s Bylaws, the student whose dissertation or thesis project has been approved by the Program’s Council can obtain credits in supervised practicum activities, upon request from the supervisor and accompanied by a study plan. The activities of the Supervised Practicum will be coordinated by a faculty member of the Program, not necessarily the student’s supervisor.
The number of credits in Supervised Practicum is limited to 4 to master’s students and 12 to doctoral students (only 4 credits per semester are allowed).

According to the art. 56 of the Program’s Bylaws, master’s and doctoral students can obtain up to 8 credits in academic papers.
Academic papers mean scientific publications published during the period of doctoral studies of which the student is an author or co-author and that meet the same relevance criteria set forth in the Normative Resolution referred to in the art. 26 of the Bylaws.
The credits should be requested by the student and the supervisor in a specific form made available by the Program and will be subject to the PPGFSC Council’s approval.
Each academic paper is worth up to 4 credits.

Master’s and Doctoral students have until the 1st day of the 2nd academic semester to define their academic supervisors and to present their thesis or dissertation projects through a specific form available in the Program’s website, duly signed by the student and the supervisor.

Please note that only permanent PPGFSC faculty members can be registered as supervisors.

According to the resolution that governs UFSC’s postgraduate programs, an exceptional extension of the maximum term is permitted upon approval by the delegated collegiate body. The extension can be up to 12 (twelve) months, discounting the lockout period, for master’s students;

The request must be accompanied by the advisor’s agreement and forwarded to the secretariat at least 90
(ninety) days before the end of the course.

PPGFSC makes available the extension form for completion of the course in order to facilitate this procedure

Faculty members of the Graduate Program in Physics do research in 5 concentration areas, namely:
– Astrophysics;
– Atomic and Molecular Physics;
– Condensed Matter Physics and Statistical Mechanics;
– Mathematical Physics and Field Theory;
– Nuclear and Hadronic Physics.

For more details about each area of concentration, including the name of the faculty members who work in each of them, please refer to the Concentration Areas page.

According to the art. 62 of the Program’s Bylaws, a student will be automatically removed from the program if he or she:

I – does not enroll for two consecutive periods, and has not officially applied for a term enrollment cancelation (trancamento de matrícula); or
II – fails two disciplines; or
III – fails in the dissertation or thesis examination; or
IV – if the maximum time limit for completion of the course has elapsed.

Yes. The students of PPGFSC can obtain financial support to participate in events. However, only students whose thesis or dissertation projects have been approved by the Program’s Council and who comply with the internal rules regarding participation in mandatory events are eligible to obtain this support.
All participation in events must include a paper presentation (be it a poster, an abstract or a talk). To obtain the support, the student has to fill in an electronic form available at this link: Support for Events. Remember that this form must be filled in until the 1st day of the second month that precedes the event (i.e. the student who wishes to participate in an event on 15 April must submit the request until 1 February).

UFSC and PPGFSC provide to the students the following infrastructure:

Student offices: Most students are assigned an office shared with other students. Check with the PPGFSC office if there is a room available.

Faculty offices: PPGFSC faculty members also have their own offices where students can go for assistance.

Library: The University Central Library (Biblioteca Universitária Central – BU) and the School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences Library (BU/CFM) are available to PPGFSC students. All students regularly enrolled at UFSC can borrow books from the library. There is also a large online collection available.

UFSC identity: to have access to the UFSC e-mail account, wireless network, among other services, students must register at this link: Identidade UFSC.

Photocopy and printing: The PPGFSC administrative office has a multifunction printer that can be used by PPGFSC students for photocopying and printing.

Other graphic services: the PPGFSC office also provides to students paper binding, color printing, banner printing, among other services. Please contact our office for more information.

Here’s how to create a signature and digitally sign a document:

https://e.ufsc.br/certificado-digital-p1-icpedu/emitir-certificiado-p1/

Below you can find a tutorial from the National Research Network’s mConf tool, designed for course completion work defenses

Web conferencing system tutorial

To book the PPGFSC Meeting Room or the Department of Physics Auditorium, click here and read the instructions.

Please find below a checklist containing information on how to apply to the PPGFSC as a postdoctoral researcher.

Postdoctoral Research Checklist