This year, 31 percent of physics concentratorsare pursuingcondary fields of study. Andrew J. Yu'94 is a concentrator in Physics and East AsianStudies. Yu initially tried to do a jointconcentration with physics and economics, but sayshe did not find the economics department veryaccommodating.

After taking some Japanese history courses, Yudecided to declare East Asian Studies as asecondary concentration. "One thing that I didn'twant to end up as was a science concentrator byitself. I wanted to integrate some sort ofhumanities into my curriculum," says Yu.

His fluency in Japanese and understanding ofJapanese culture helped Yu land a job next year ata superconductor company in Japan.

Vikram A. Savkar '94 is a concentrator inphysics and classics. "The reason I did it wasbecause I had always liked both subjects, althoughphysics is what I want to do with my life," hesays.

Savkar, who intends on staying in academia andearning a Ph.D in physics, says that bothdepartments were extremely accommodating. The lackof a thesis and tutorial requirement for physicshelped him manage both discplines at once, saysSavkar.

A more common joint concentration isphysics and astronomy. One such concentrator, MarcJ. Kuchner '94, will be attending graduate schoolnext year at either Harvard or the CaliforniaInstitute of Technology. In terms of getting intograduate school, Kuchner does not think that hisjoint concentration made much of a difference.

"I could have just done a physics major, butthe astronomy department's great for the ratio offaculty to students," says Kuchner. "I know a lotof physics majors who feel very neglected. Mostpeople who do physics and something else seem alot happier."

Fellow physics and astronomy concentrator TonyH. Wong '94 agrees. "The physics department is afairly large department and sometimes it can be abit intimidating. The astronomy department issmaller and you get to know some of theprofessors," says Wong. "It's the best of bothworlds."

Both Wong and Kuchner say they were partlyinfluenced to declare physics as their primaryconcentration by the lack of a thesis and tutorialrequirement.

But others, like Cynthia B. Phillips '95,secretary of the Society for Physics Students, saythey would rather have a thesis and tutorial--andchoose physics only as a secondary concentrationbecause of its lack of these requirements.

Phillips, whose primary concentration isastronomy and intends to spend this summer at theUniversity of Arizona watching a comet crash intoJupiter, says, "I find the physics itself kind ofdry but once I get into an astrophysics coursewith applications, I find the physics much easierto learn."

It was applications that led Bo Y. Shao '95 tobecome a physics and engineering concentrator."Initially I felt that physics was verytheoretical, especially at Harvard, and I justliked to see some application with something likeengineering," Shao says.

Professor Emeritus Holton, who helped establisha teacher certification program for physicsconcentrators, says of interdisciplinary studies,"It's terribly satisfying for students here to usethe resources to go beyond one lab building."

While joint concentrations arefulfilling for many students, there is debate asto whether such courses of study significantlyincrease one's career opportunities. VineerBhansali, a Ph.D from Harvard and now a vicepresident at Citicorp in New York says, "Itdoesn't matter if you have two or three majorsbecause when you get into Wall Street you have tore-learn everything anyway."

Bhansali, who also recruits for Citicorp, saysin reference to the banking industry, "It's a verypersonality-oriented field. You have to be verydynamic." In fact, Bhansali says applicants'undergraduate concentrations figure little in thehiring process, as long as candidates showcompetence and a keen interest in the what they'redoing.