Spring '12 -- Prof. Wesley Smith

PHYSICS 301 -- Physics Today/Undergraduate Colloquium

Description: A series of weekly presentations and discussions of current research topics in physics by the scientists involved in those studies. this course is designed to expose students to the topics and excitement of the research frontier. Each lecture will be given by a different researcher who will describe his/her field and his/her own work. Opportunities will be offered for students to become involved in research work. This course is designed to help foster contact between students and faculty to enable opportunties for independent study, directed study, or senior thesis projects with faculty in subsequent semesters. Students will learn about a broad variety of physics research and how this research is carried out. Further information may be found on the course web page:
http://www.hep.wisc.edu/wsmith/p301syl.html

Credits: 1 Credit, may not be repeated for credit.

Prerequisites: Physics 207-208 or equivalent.

Meetings: Tuesdays, 1:20 - 2:10, 2223 Chamberlin.

Recommended Text: Invitation to Contemporary Physics, 2nd edition, Q. Ho-Kim, N. Kumar & C.S. Lam, World Scientific Press, 2004.

Coursework: Describe a particular piece of physics research being actively pursued this year. The paper is due for submission by a pdf file (MS-word is accepted but not preferred) that has your name and "301" in the file name in an email to Prof. Smith by 5:00 PM CDT on May 8. The topic selected with a one page outline must be submitted in class on April 11. The paper must be typed double spaced, use proper footnotes and have a total length of not less than 7 and not more than 10 pages. The primary resource for this paper is the Physics Dept. Library . The librarian, Kerry Kresse , will be able to assist you. Honors students must proceed under the direction of a faculty member of their own choice.

Office Hours: By appointment, 4275 Chamberlin, 262-4690. wsmith@hep.wisc.edu , http://www.hep.wisc.edu/wsmith/

Course Schedule:

Speaker
Title Date
Sridhara
Dasu The Higgs Boson January 24, 2012
Karsten
Heeger Recent Discoveries in Neutrino Physics January 31, 2012
Mark 
Eriksson Silicon quantum dot spin qubits February 7, 2012
Dan
McCammon X-ray Astronomy February 14, 2012
Louis 
Bruch Square Monolayer Lattices February 21, 2012
Albrecht
Karle High Energy Neutrinos with Ice Cube February 28, 2012
Sue
Coppersmith Biomineralization March 6, 2012
Thad
Walker Laser Cooling March 13, 2012
Franz
Himpsel Nanoscience & Nanotechnology March 20, 2012
Clint
Sprott Chaos March 27, 2012
Bob
Joynt Superconductivity April 10, 2012 (Outline Due)
Maxim
Vavilov Electronic circuits in the quantum limit April 17, 2012
Michael
Ramsey-Musolf The Origin of Matter April 24, 2012
Karsten
McCollam Magnetic Confinement in Plasma Physics May 1, 2012
Michael
DuVernois Askaryan Radio Array at the South Pole May 8, 2012 (Paper Due)

 

 (Get course poster here).