Physics 279/379/479

Undergraduate Seminar

 

 

  • General Course Information
    • Course title:      Undergraduate Seminar
    • Meetings:          Thursdays, 3:30-4:20, Fall and Winter terms
    • Room:              PAB 137

 

    • Instructor:  Dr. John de Bruyn
    • Office location:  Physics & Astronomy Bldg., Rm. 126
    • Office phone number:  661-2111 ext. 86441
    • Office hours: Just drop in. If I am busy or you can’t find me, ask Jodi to set up an appointment.
    • Email address:  debruyn AT uwo DOT ca

 

  • Course Description (more or less)
    • A forum for students to meet other physics and astronomy students and faculty in an informal setting. We will discuss research areas, practise giving and critiquing talks, and provide information on careers.
  • Course outline:
    • This is a zero-credit course that meets one hour per week over the academic year.
    • Students in most programs offered by the Department of Physics and Astronomy are required to take and pass this course in 2nd, 3rd, and 4th year.
    • Most classes will include talks by invited speakers from both inside and outside of the university, covering many interesting physics-related subjects. Lots of time will be provided for informal discussions with the speakers.
    • Most classes will also include a brief discussion of some hot science news or some other items of interest.
    • Topics already scheduled for this fall include:
      • Climate change
      • Microgravity science
      • Paper physics
      • Physics of the eye
      • Gender issues in science
      • Teaching as a career
    • Students in the seminar class organize a one-day undergraduate conference in the winter term.

 

  • Evaluation
    • Students will receive a grade of PASS or FAIL. If you attend class and participate, you will pass. If you miss more than three classes per term without a valid excuse, you will fail.

 

  • Seminar Class Schedule, Fall 2007
    • Sept. 6: no class
    • Sept 13: introduction, course overview
    • Sept. 20: Ms Jen Brown, Medway High School – teaching high school physics
    • Sept. 27: Dr. Gordon McBean, UWO Geography – climate change. Here is Dr. McBean's power point presentation
    • Oct. 4: CUPC Practice talks
    • Oct. 11: Dr. Melanie Campbell, University of Waterloo – Eye physics
    • Oct. 18: no class – prof is at a conference in Switzerland
    • Oct. 25: Dr. Charlie MacKenzie, Medical Biophysics
    • Nov. 1: Dr. Marcus Dejmek, Canadian Space Agency – microgravity science
    • Nov. 8: Dr. Nick Provatas, Materials Engineering, McMaster University – Paper physics
    • Nov. 15: Dr. Peter Brown, UWO Physics and Astronomy – Comet and Asteroid Impacts
    • Nov. 22: Sean Kohut, Andrew Weatherbee, Gail Wendt – Science Internship Program
    • Nov. 29: end-of-term party

 

  • Seminar Class Schedule, Winter 2008
    • Jan. 10: Dr. Luydmila Goncharova, UWO Physics and Astronomy
    • Jan. 17: Dr. Randy Kissack, UWO Physics and Astronomy – the X-15 Rocket Plane
    • Jan. 24: Dr. Stephen Morris, University of Toronto – Doing physics on TV
    • Jan. 31: Dr. Dick Holt, UWO Physics – course selection for next fall
    • Feb. 7: Dr. Pauline Barmby, UWO Physics and Astronomy
    • Feb. 14: Dr. Chris Smeenk, UWO Philosophy
    • Feb. 21: Dr. Kimberly Hill, Materials Engineering, University of Minnesota – Granular Materials
    • Feb. 28: Conference Week, no class
    • Mar. 6: Louise Milligan, Associate Dean of Science - Gender issues in Science
    • Mar 13: David Jeffrey, Applied Math: "Fluid Mechanics is not a dry subject"
    • Mar 20: No class
    • Mar 27: Pizza! and PASA elections, PAB 123
    • Saturday, Mar 29: Physics Undergraduate Conference and Dinner

 

  • Course Policies
    • The following rules will not likely apply to this course but you should be aware of them anyway.
      • Religious holidays:  A student who, due to unavoidable conflicts with religious holidays which (a) require an absence from the University or (b) prohibit or require certain activities (i.e., activities that would make it impossible for the student to satisfy the academic requirements scheduled on the day(s) involved), is unable to write examinations and term tests on a Sabbath or Holy Day in a particular term shall give notice of this fact in writing to his or her Dean as early as possible but not later than November 15th for mid-year examinations and March 1st for final examinations, i.e., approximately two weeks after the posting of the mid-year and final examination schedule respectively. In the case of mid-term tests, such notification is to be given in writing to the instructor within 48 hours of the announcement of the date of the mid-term test. The instructor(s) in the case of mid-term tests and the dean in the case of mid-year and spring final examinations will arrange for special examination(s) to be written at another time. In the case of mid-year and spring final examinations, the accommodation must occur no later than one month after the end of the examination period involved. It is mandatory that students seeking accommodations under this policy give notification before the deadlines, and that the Faculty accommodate these requests.  The list of approved dates is given in http://www.uwo.ca/equity/docs/mfcalendar.htm.
      • Academic misconduct:
        • Cheating:  University policy states that cheating is a scholastic offence which can result in an academic penalty (which may include expulsion from the program).  If you are caught cheating, there will be no second warning. Complete information on the University policies on academic offenses can be found in the Undergraduate section of this document.
        • Plagiarism:  Students must write their essays and assignments in their own words.  Whenever students take an idea or a passage from another author, they must acknowledge their debt both by using quotation marks where appropriate and by proper referencing (such as footnotes or citations).  Plagiarism is a major academic offence.  For more details, see this document.