Many doors of service await students who study physics. SAU physics major graduates have become academy and high school teachers, and professors and researchers in physics, in America and overseas. Also, one or more of them has served as aerospace researcher for the Apollo project, anesthetist, chemical researcher, computer systems manager, computer network manager at large factory, computer imaging specialist for the Human Genome Project, corporation pilot, dentist, and entrepreneur (a computer software and hardware company, a company that produces a jet-engine lowered into wells to increase oil production).

Continuing the list: a family-practice medical doctor, full-time homemaker, geophysicist, historian of science, hospital director, instructor for fossil-fuel power-plant operators, instructor for nuclear reactor operators, lawyer, mathematician, nuclear-plant walk-down engineer, oceanographer (using side-view satellite to measure currents), oil-drilling engineer, planner for Space Station Freedom, radiologist, reliability designer for long-distance telephone systems, radio station engineer, researcher in educational statistics, and veterinarian (not only house pets but all the creatures you see in a zoo).

Here is a more statistical analysis of what SAU Physics graduates do:

First, look at the degrees which they earn. During the 42 years from May of 1958 to May of 1999, 82 B.A. and B.S. degrees in physics were awarded by Southern College. These 82 physics majors earned 11 M.A. and M.S. degrees in physics and (with an overlap of two persons) 14 Ph.D. degrees in physics. They earned six M.A. and M.S. degrees in other areas of science and mathematics (or in the education of history of the same topics), six Ph.D. degrees in these areas, and had several post-doctoral appointments. They earned four MEd, one MMusic, and one MBA degrees. The alumni earned six MD, one DDS, one veterinary, one jurisprudence, and two EdD (administration, statistics) doctorates and one in speech.

Second, look at how these same physics graduates devoted their years of graduate study and work. They gave 46% of their person-years to physics and closely related fields. If computer-related work (not related to physics and including management) is included, they devoted 64%. They served 14% of their person-years in the medical arts. The remaining 22% is accounted for by those who were or are involved in the humanities, who were or are flyers, who were or are full-time homemakers, and who are retirees (a growing number), and who are deceased. The fraction of time devoted to the service of the Seventh-day Adventist Church (parent organization for Southern College), as measured by employment in the Church, is 22%.