Prospectus

nl en

Modern Physics Research

Course
2019-2020

Admission Requirements

There are no requirements

Description

This course introduces selected contemporary topics in physics as well as basic academic skills of modern research.

Students will be provided with a bird’s-eye view of contemporary challenges in the physics community through work sessions and guest lectures covering all the major fields in physics. There will be special emphasis on the topics that are central to LION because LION most likely will play a part in the student’s foreseeable future.

In interactive work sessions, students will learn about academic skills: searching literature, reading papers, writing reports, and presenting posters. A group research project forms the core of this class. In groups of three, you choose a recent research question and apply the before mentioned research skills to discover current challenges related to your question. You will discuss the outcomes with your peers, and will create a poster with your findings at the end of the course.

Course objectives

After this class, you will be able to dive into a completely new research topic and summarize the key challenges in a written report and a poster presentation.

This involves that you are able to

  • select a difficult contemporary topic in physics that interests the members of your group

  • pose a physics related and unanswered question

  • use the main tools for literature search to find papers related to a specialized topic

  • digest difficult research papers efficiently so that you can gauge their quality and extract key information

  • write a literary overview that recapitulates the main results of an extensive collection of research papers related to a specialized topic

  • summarize the current key challenges for a specialized physics topic in a written report and a poster

Soft kills

After this class, you will be able to

  • work in a small group on summarizing key challenges in a specialized physics topic and distribute and manage the various tasks involved

  • write a report on a very difficult, specialized topic

  • create a poster that summarizes a topic clearly

  • make an informed choice about a future research field you want to be involved in and have an overview of the possibilities within LION concerning that choice

Mode of instruction

Lectures and work sessions

Course load

3EC

Assessment method

Handed in reports and poster.

Blackboard

Reading list

Papers related to your research project.

Contact

Dr. Milan Allan Prof.dr.ir. John van Noort Dr.ir. Paul Logman