  Thermal physics is a core course requirement for most physics degrees and
encompasses both thermodynamics and statistical mechanics content. However, the
primary content foci of thermal physics courses vary across universities. This
variation can make creation of materials or assessment tools for thermal
physics difficult. To determine the scope and content variability of thermal
physics courses across institutions, we distributed a survey to over 140
institutions to determine content priorities from faculty and instructors who
have taught upper-division thermodynamics and/or statistical mechanics. We
present results from the survey, which highlight key similarities and
differences in thermal physics content coverage across institutions. Though we
see variations in content coverage, we found 9 key topical areas covered by all
respondents in their upper-division thermal physics courses. We discuss
implications of these findings for the development of instructional tools and
assessments that are useful to the widest range of institutions and physics
instructors.
