Physics 399: Senior Seminar
Department of Physics, Haverford College
Fall 2004

Welcome

• Practice writing a scientific paper
• Learn how to give a scientific presentation
• Hear lectures by eminent scientists and interact with them
• Learn more about careers available to you when you are finished at Haverford
• Get into contact with alumni who have gone in career directions of interest to you
• Learn about graduate school and how to go about selecting an applying to schools
• Discuss topics relevant to science

Course Requirements (Fall)

• Attend all scheduled meetings of the seminar, including any added later. (You will be informed by announcement or email if we add any sessions.)
• Attend Philips visits and department colloquia. We hope you will also attend the informal meetings with our visitors. They enjoy talking with students and these informal gatherings are a great way to find out about the speaker and what he or she is up to.
• Read assigned selections and participate in class discussions.
• Contact two Haverford physics grads who are in non-academic jobs (you may include no more than one graduate student), discuss their careers with them and prepare a one-page report and a brief (5-10 min.) presentation for the rest of the class. Reports will be graded only on a credit/no credit basis, but hand them in on the date of the presentations for full credit. Also keep in mind that they will go into the binder, so following cohorts of physics majors will be reading them. You should begin the process of selection and contact well in advance of the presentation date (that is, as soon as possible).
• Write a short paper (4-5 pages) consisting of a preliminary version of the introduction and background sections of your senior paper, plus a short (one page) description of your project as a whole. This is due at the end of the semester and will be the basis of a brief (10 min.) informal presentation that you will give to the seminar.

Grading

• Fall semester short paper (10%)
• Fall semester oral presentations/class participation (20%)
• Quality of senior talk (30%)
• Senior paper (spring semester) (40%)

Meeting Times and Schedule

Date Wed Sep 1 Wed Sep 8 Wed Sep 15 Wed Sep 22 Thu Sep 23 Fri Sep 24 Wed Sep 29 Tue Oct 5 Wed Oct 6 Wed Oct 13 Wed Oct 20 Fri Oct 22 Wed Oct 27 Wed Nov 3 Wed Nov 10 Wed Nov 17 Wed Nov 24 Wed Dec 1 Wed Dec 8 Fri Dec 17

Topic/Event Introduction; Employment and careers Library Resources; Employment and careers (cont'd) Employment and careers (cont'd); Graduate study no meeting Steve Girvin talk at 4:30 p.m. Steve Girvin talk at 4:30 p.m. Graduate study (cont'd) Meg Urry talk at 4:30 p.m. Meg Urry talk at 3:30 p.m. no meeting - Fall Break Graduate study (cont'd) Frank von Hippel talk at 4:30 p.m. 10 min. student presentations on alumni contacts Ethics Ethics (cont'd); Scientific writing and speaking Scientific writing and speaking (cont'd) no meeting - Thanksgiving 10 min. student presentations on senior paper introduction 10 min. student presentations on senior paper introduction (cont'd); Wrap Up Introduction and preliminary bibliography due at 12:00 noon