This year PHY 300 Physics seminar course has the following two objectives
To get students enrolled in PHY 300 at UMass Dartmouth to
(1) think about their career choices after graduation.
Based on the past placements of students, these options are
- Joining the industry
- Going on to graduate school
- Join as a K-12 educator. Our students are teaching in the area high schools (physics) and middle schools (science teacher)
There will be a survey conducted in the first lecture to gauge student interest in all of these choices. Each choice is linked with a course project. The students will be required to choose two out of three projects.
In
addition, there will be classroom visits by professors and teachers.
Some of you will be using Physics GRE and General GRE resources to
train for these tests. I will also present a seminar on going to grad
school, if there is interest.
(2) Conduct experiments in Ocean-Atmosphere Dynamics.
We live on a rotating planet, and understanding the physics of its environment is increasingly important for multiple reasons. This can be pollutant transport in the atmosphere and the ocean, or understanding climate change, or the impact of the ocean circulation on fisheries or understanding the weather.
The students will conduct four experiments. They will be responsible for four brief lab-reports and one comprehensive written report. The comprehensive written report will connect the lab experiments to phenomenon in the atmosphere-ocean system. It will include analyses of weather and/or ocean data, as well as some quantitative analysis of the experiment. More details about the comprehensive report are here. GRADING: 50% course projects. 25% Comprehensive written report. 25% Other presentations, Lab reports, homeworks etc.