PHYS

This scheduled weekly interdisciplinary seminar provides the context to reflect on concrete experiences at an off-campus internship site and to link these experiences to academic study relating to the political, psychological, social, economic and intellectual forces that shape our views on work and its meaning. The aim is to integrate study in the liberal arts with issues and themes surrounding the pursuit of a creative, productive, and satisfying professional life. Students receive 1.0 unit of academic credit for the academic work that augments their concurrent internship fieldwork.

Independent study is available to those students who wish to continue their learning in an area after completing the regularly offered courses in that area.

Independent study is available to those students who wish to continue their learning in an area after completing the regularly offered courses in that area.

Advanced topics in mechanics, optics, quantum mechanics, or other fields are studied. This course is offered in response to student interest in particular advanced topics.

Research may be undertaken under the supervision of a faculty member on a topic agreed upon and described in a proposal to the supervising instructor.

Research may be undertaken under the supervision of a faculty member on a topic agreed upon and described in a proposal to the supervising instructor.

This is a continuation of Physics 411. The emphasis is on achieving perturbative solutions to real physical systems. Topics may include time-independent and dependent perturbation theory, the WKB method, a discussion of the interaction between light and matter, and scattering.

This course is an introduction to the quantum theory of matter. The emphasis is on exactly soluble systems including the infinite square well, harmonic oscillator, and hydrogen atom. The theory of angular momentum is also discussed.

This course provides a theoretical or experimental physics research experience for juniors or seniors under the direction of a faculty mentor in the Department of Physics. The research will result in a written summary of the research results.

This course explores the principles of physics applied to living systems. Topics include diffusion, hydrodynamics and the low Reynolds-number world, importance of entropy and free energy, entropic forces, molecular machines, membranes, and nerve impulses. Written and oral scientific communication is emphasized. This course is appropriate for junior or senior undergraduates in the sciences, particularly physics and biology. No specialized knowledge of biology or physics is expected, but a facility with algebraic manipulations and a working knowledge of calculus is needed.