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PHYS 351 Senior Physics Project , PHYS 353 Senior Engineering Physics Project

& PHYS 352 Senior Physics Project Seminar

(updated April 2, 2008)

Senior Physics Project, PHYS 351, is required for the BS and BA degrees in Physics. PHYS 353 is required for the BSE in Engineering Physics. Both are four-credit courses which normally extend over the two semesters of the senior year, i.e. two credits per semester. Both courses will satisfy the three credit SAGES Capstone requirement.

PHYS 352, Senior Physics Project Seminar, is a two-credit course. Students take 1 credit each semester they are enrolled in PHYS 351 or PHYS 352; PHYS 352 is officially a co-requisite for both of these courses. PHYS 352 provides two of the required three SAGES Departmental Seminar credits. (PHYS 303, Advanced Laboratory Physics Seminar provides the remaining credit.)

The physics senior project program is supervised by the Physics Senior Project Committee.  For the 2007 - 2008 academic year, this committee consists of : G. Chottiner & K. Singer (co-chairmen), R. Brown, K. Kowalski, W. Lambrecht, R. Petschek, J. Ruhl and T. Shutt. G. Chottiner is the instructor of record for PHYS 351 while Prof. K. Singer is the instructor of record for PHYS 353.

Senior Projects can normally be described as experimental, theoretical or calculational in nature, although projects beyond these bounds may be proposed to the Senior Project Committee. PHYS 351 projects may be performed outside the physics department, for example in the astronomy department, an engineering department or an external industrial lab, but the Senior Project Committee may require joint supervision by a faculty member in the CWRU Physics Dept. PHYS 353 projects will commonly be supervised by a faculty member in the area of engineering specialization but joint supervision by the advisor for the Engineering Physics program or another physics faculty member may be required.

Students are responsible for approaching faculty members to discuss the possibility of working together. Although students are free to propose their own ideas for a project and to then find a faculty member willing and able to serve as an advisor, it is more common for students to work on projects conceived by faculty.    In either case, it is recommended that a project be identified within 2 weeks of the start of the fall semester. 

A description of past Senior Projects and a list of possible or planned future senior projects is maintained at http://www.phys.cwru.edu/phys/undergrad/Senior Projects/ . A collection of final written reports is kept on the bookshelf opposite Rockefeller 202. If you cannot find an advisor and a project, ask your academic advisor,  the Director of Undergraduate Studies (G. Chottiner), or for PHYS 353 students, Prof. Singer, for assistance.

If you already are working with a faculty member, either on a theoretical project or in a laboratory, the time you spend on your Senior Project must be over and above any work for which you are compensated during your senior year. Your project may be based on work you have performed before your senior year but this earlier work should be a relatively minor portion of your final senior project.

It is strongly recommended that you make arrangements for your senior project before the end of the spring semester of your junior year. You should try to get to know the faculty in the physics department and, for PHYS 353 students, in the department of your engineering specialty. A good starting place is the section of the General Bulletin describing graduate programs and research areas. A discussion with your academic advisor may also prove helpful. 

PHYS 352 meets weekly. Once the semester starts, students will have access to more information about PHYS 352 via its Blackboard web site.

The official General Bulletin descriptions of the senior project courses read as follows.

PHYS 351. Senior Physics Project (6)

A two semester course required for senior BS and BA physics majors.  Students pursue a project based on experimental, theoretical or teaching research under the supervision of a physics faculty member, a faculty member from another CWRU department or a research scientist or engineer from another institution. A departmental Senior Project Committee must approve all project proposals and this same committee will receive regular oral and written progress reports. Final results are presented at the end of the second semester as a paper in a style suitable for publication in a professional journal as well as an oral report in a public symposium. ( approved SAGES capstone ) Prereq: PHYS302 or PHYS301B.

PHYS 353. Senior Engineering Physics Project (6)

A two semester course required for BSE Engineering Physics majors. Students are expected to complete a research project in their concentration area under the supervision of a faculty member in science, engineering, or, with approval, a researcher at another institution or company. The project may be calculational, experimental or theoretical, and will address both the underlying physics and appropriate engineering and design principles. A program Senior Project Committee must approve all project proposals and will receive regular oral and written progress reports. Final results are presented at the end of the second semester as a paper in a style suitable for publication in a professional journal as well as an oral report in a public symposium. (approved SAGES capstone) Prereq: PHYS318.

PHYS 352. Senior Physics Project Seminar (2 credits total, 1 credit each semester)

This two semester seminar is taken concurrently with the student’s two semester senior project.  Students meet weekly to discuss their projects and the research experience.  The class will include dialogues about professional issues such as ethics, graduate school, jobs, funding, professional organizations, public obligations, writing and speaking. Assignments include proposals, progress reports, and posters. PHYS 352 plus PHYS 303 is an approved SAGES Departmental Seminar.

SENIOR PROJECT GUIDELINES

CONTRACT

Students and advisors are required to fill out a contract that specifies the nature of the project.  The forms for these contracts may be found on this web site.  They are due by the end of the DROP/ADD period for the semester.  You must also supply to the Senior Project Committee an electronic version of the project description, as described on the contract form.

The contract asks you to specify a weekly schedule for your work.  This does not mean what you plan do each week for the next 8 months but rather what hours you plan to set aside to work on your project.  You and your supervisor should agree in advance on the number of hours per week you will devote (on average) to your project, when you will be able to devote large blocks of time to your work, and when you might meet to discuss your progress. The total number of hours should be appropriate for a two credit per semester course, i.e. about 6 hours per week, plus the 3 hours per week allocated to PHYS 352 (1 hour in class plus time outside class to prepare proposals, talks, posters, reports, etc.).   You may, of course, deviate from this schedule during the course of your work; no one but your advisor will be scrutinizing your normal activities.  This item is included in the contract primarily to insure you understand the time commitment you must make.

If, during the course of the year, you and your faculty supervisor should decide to significantly change the goals of your project, you should present a supplementary project description to the Committee. If the project is not working out and a change of supervisor should be considered, the student and supervisor should advise the Committee so that alternative arrangements can be made.

GRADES

PHYS 351, PHYS 352 and PHYS 353 will each last for two semesters, with an R grade posted at the end of the first semester. A final grade will be assigned at the end of the second semester and a Change of Grade Form will be filed to convert the R from the fall semester to a letter grade. Since this is considered a two semester course, the same grade must be given for both semesters.  Midterm grades will normally be an 'S', unless an advisor wants to send a message by using some other letter grade.

There is a grading rubric for all three classes; this is provided on the syllabus at the beginning of the semester. Resaerch advisors are given a set of questions to guide their evaluation of your work throughout the year. These questions are focused on issues such as: grasp of science, continuity of effort/ timeliness, completion of objectives, mastery of methods, creativity/resourcefulness /independence, final written report, final oral report, and effectiveness in working with others.

Your final grades will not generally be based on whether you completed the work outlined in your original proposal. Faculty are more concerned about how you perform in terms of the process and skills in conducting research. There is never any guarantee that a research project will work out as envisioned and you should not be penalized if yours does not, as long as you handled it properly over the course of the year.

PROGRESS REPORTS

You are required to submit brief written and oral progress reports at various times during the year. Firm due dates for each report will be announced a few weeks in advance. The written progress reports must be approved by your project supervisor before submission to the Physics Senior Project Committee. Provide these to your advisor several days in advance of the due date to allow time for discussion.  You need to submit a printed copy of the progress report and report form, with signatures, and an electronic version of the report in a form readable by Microsoft Word. 

Senior Project students each have the responsibility of scheduling their own oral progress reports, including reserving a room ( usually the Miller Room, Roc 221, controlled by Pat Bacevice, or the small conference room off the second floor lounge, Roc 219A, controlled by a signup sheet on its door ).  Both rooms are equipped with computer projection facilities. If necessary, a laptop computer may be borrowed from the course instructor.

Generally, a single representative of the Senior Project Committee will be assigned at the beginning of each project to follow it through its course and sit in on the oral progress reports.  Senior project advisor(s) MUST attend these oral reports. The course instructor(s) will also try to attend the progress reports.

A progress report is less formal than a normal presentation. Although it often helps to prepare a PowerPoint file, this is not required. You should, however, be prepared to provide drawings of your apparatus, plots of your data, any important equations you use, etc. Since you may reuse these items several times, it often makes sense to prepare them carefully in a PowerPoint or pdf file and have them available at each progress report.

You and your advisor should have a very clear understanding of your project but you should not expect the Senior Project Committee member to walk in the door and pick up from something he or she last saw weeks or months ago. Start your oral report with a minute or two of overview. In fact, it is often a very good measure of the depth of your own understanding to see how clearly you can explain your own project in two minutes.

Don't dwell on details. The progress report is designed to be more of an overview of the status of your project; the work you've done to date and your plans for the future. You should however be prepared to address all of the details of your project.

Expect questions. It is likely that you will be interrupted frequently by the senior project committee members. If there are no questions, that may mean that you have done a particularly good job or a particularly poor job - and the latter is more likely to result in no questions.

Although the talks are scheduled for 20 minutes, prepare only 10 - 15 minutes of material; the rest of the time slot will be used for questions and discussion. If you are using PowerPoint of pdf files, observe the general guideline that each slide will take about 2 minutes to explain, on average. So don't prepare more than 5-7 slides.

Actually, you can prepare more material but don't plan on using it. It's often a good strategy to come prepared with data, references and other resources that you don't plan to present but which might be useful in addressing any questions that arise.

FINAL REPORT

A full report on your project must be submitted to the Senior Project Committee at the end of the second semester. A firm due date will be announced in advance. A first draft of this report will be due shortly after spring (or fall, as the case may be ) break. More details about the form of this final report are provided elsewhere on this web site.

You will give a 20-minute oral presentation of your project to faculty and students at a Physics Senior Projects Symposium. This symposium is normally held during reading days.

A final grade for PHYS 351/353 will be assigned by the project advisor in consultation with the Senior Project Committee after the final report has been evaluated and the student has made an oral presentation. Most PHYS 351/353 students expect to graduate a few weeks after the end of the semester. The Office of Undergraduate Studies and the Registrar are very strict about deadlines for turning in grades for graduating students. It may not be possible to meet their deadlines for students who are late in submitting their final reports - so DON'T BE LATE.

The final grades for PHYS 352 are based on work you do for this course. A grading rubric will be provided at the beginning of the year.