First-Year Physics Seminar
PHY 1033

Wednesdays, 11am - noon
CP 220

Faculty

This weekly seminar course will introduce you to a variety of research fields in physics, especially those pursued here in our Physics Department. You will meet and talk with several physics faculty, as well as your fellow physics students and graduate students. There will be informal presentations by faculty and graduate students, and several senior undergraduate physics majors. You will learn how to make the most of your physics education at FIU, physics career options, and how physics research is done.

One goal of this experience is to help you make the most of your physics degree. A second goal is to encourage scientific discourse throughout your life. We will ask for feedback throughout the course, but feel free to let us know anytime how to improve the course.

Attendance: This is a seminar course and need your input to be successful. Attendance is therefore required and counts towards your grade. You may have one excused absence during the term.

Contributing to the Discussions: This is an informal discussion-based course, so you must not only come to the class, but you must also contribute to the discussions. Contributing includes posing questions, answering questions, and offering opinions.

Seminar Surveys: We will encourage scientific discourse throughout the course by asking you to fill out one-page surveys each week. The goal of the survey is to get you to think about the topic, they should take only a short time to complete. To encourage your participation, surveys will be completed each week and handed in. A sample of the surveys will be graded. Each will be worth ten points, assigning grades as:

• 10 points: completed with quality details
• 7 points: completed with medium details
• 3 points: evidence indicates seminar was attended
• 0 points: not all questions completed

Surveys will be handed out weekly in class.

Presentation: You will be responsible for leading one 10-minute presentations on physics-related topics of your choice. Presentations will be done in groups and can include: discussions of articles / surveys of physics topics (why someone should look deeper at a topic) / interesting physics careers / etc. The choices must be approved by one of the instructors. Ideas can come from magazines, newspapers, the web, or your imagination. The goal is to select ideas that you find interesting and think your fellow classmates will enjoy.

Email List: An email list will be created to distribute information on the course and encourage group discussion. Your FIU email will be added to the list. You may also request that your favorite addresses be added.

Grading: The grade breakdown is:

Attendance	25%
Discussion	20%
Seminar Surveys	25%
Presentation	30%

Interesting Links: Here are links to several professional organizations. They have useful information about careers, topics, meetings, recent discoveries...

American Physical Society: http://www.aps.org
American Institute of Phyics: http://www.aip.org
American Astronomical Society: http://www.aas.org
American Association of Physics Teachers: http://www.aapt.org
Physics Central: http://www.physicscentral.com

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