WIC-Thesis course

PH403 THESIS, WIC course for physics majors.

Written communication is very important in every branch of science, and physics is no exception. When we think of written communication in physics, examples like research papers and books come to mind. But other cases are important, too. For example, a physicist might have to write a memo to a supervisor to justify spending time and/or money on a certain project. Letters of recommendation have to be written. Research proposals are an essential element of academic life. The list can be made rather long. Nevertheless, from a professional point of view research papers are probably the most important to discuss, and hence our WIC course focuses on that topic.

Some of the students who presented their thesis work on June 14, 2007

Presentation on June 12, 2008

All students majoring in Physics have to do a senior research project. This can be experimental work in a laboratory, computational work using workstations or supercomputers, or theoretical work with paper and pen. The ability of doing research is the hallmark of a scientist. An essential part of research is dissemination. Results of research need validation, they need to be shared with the community in order to be criticized, verified, and expanded upon. Oral presentations at meetings are one form of dissemination, but the written form is still the most important. Other researchers need to be able to sit down and carefully study all details of the work. It is therefore obvious to connect the senior research with the WIC writing requirement.

Students need to sign up for 1 credit of PH403 in Winter and 2 credits in Spring. No other use of PH403 is allowed. Students need to ask for permission to sign up in the Physics main office.

Participants of the PH403 Thesis Course in Winter and Spring 2008
Name	Title of Presentation
Patrick Bice	Neutron Scattering
Doug Francisco	Later, TBA
Scott Griffiths	Seasonal and Solar Cycle Variations in High Probability Reconnection Regions on the Dayside Magnetopause
Daniel Harada	Noise mechanisms in carbon nanotube biosensors
David Hasenjaeger	Random Anisotropy model of a lattice structure
Caleb Joiner	Later, TBA
Alden Jurling	Impedance Spectroscopy of Thin Film Dielectric Materials
Henry Priest	Empirical Annotation of the Brachypodium Transcriptome
Daniel Schwartz	Optimum Feed Design for a 1.4 GHz Radio Telescope
Ken Takahashi	Neutron Capture Cross Sections and Resonance Integrals of Cadmium Isotopes
Drew Watson	The Impact of Guiding Questions and Rubrics in the Scientific Writing of Middle-Division Physics Students

Participants of the PH403 Thesis Course in Winter and Spring 2007
Name	Title of Presentation
Tyler Backman	Thermodynamic Analysis of the Biodiesel Cycle
Scott Clark	Protein Statistics
Zachary Haines	Light Propagation in a Photonic Crystal
Doug Jacobson	Domain Structures and Hysteresis Curves of Ferromagnetic Systems
Kim Johnson	The Effects of Air Mass Origin on Cumulus Clouds in the Caribbean
Joe Kinney	Room Temperature Excitons in BaCuChF
Nick Kuhta	Electrodynamics of the Planar Negative Index Lens
Ken Lett	Modeling the anisotropic superlens
Dave Mack	Later, TBA
William Martin	Simulating the reaction-diffusion equation in space and time
Nick Meredith	Computing Occupation Times with Integral Equations
Gabriel Mitchell	Light scattering from large particles
Rozy Nystrom	Radio Telescope II
Joshua Russell	Radio Telescope I
Ken Takahashi	Later, TBA
Curtis Taylor	Transverse Flux Permanent Magnet Linear Generator