Spring 2011 physics courses

 CLARIFICATION: When I said that electronics is one of the ways of satisfying the experimental requirement, I should have been clearer.  The physics major requires Intermediate Lab, and one more experimental thing.  Electronics and research are the two ways to get that extra thing.  You still need Intermediate Lab.

Registration for spring semester’s not far off.  Here’s some potentially useful information for physics majors and minors.

First, here are the upper-level physics courses we expect to offer.  (There are the usual bunch of intro courses too.)

  • PHYS 216 (Electronics): MWF 1:30-3:30, Matt Trawick.
  • PHYS 221 (Intermediate Lab): TTh 1:30-4:15, Jerry Gilfoyle.
  • PHYS 303 (Classical Mechanics): TTh 10:30-11:45, Ovidiu Lipan.
  • PHYS 306 (Electricity & Magnetism II): MWF 10:30-11:20, Ted Bunn.
  • Junior-Senior seminar, W 4:30-5:30, Ted Bunn.

A couple of other items to note as you prepare to register:

  • Electronics will almost certainly not be offered during the following (2011-2012) academic year. Electronics is one of only two ways to satisfy the physics major’s experimental requirement, the other being research for credit with a faculty member.  (See clarification above: this is the post-intermediate-lab experimental requirement.  Intermediate lab is required too.)
  • E&M II will almost certainly not pass your way again any time soon.
  • The 2011-2012 schedule is not fixed yet, but we’re pretty certain to offer Modern, Math Methods, Computational, Stat. Mech., Intermediate Lab, and a new Systems Biology course.  Quantum 1 is also very likely, and with luck one more advanced course to be named later.

As always, if you have questions or concerns, ask me.

Published by

Ted Bunn

I am chair of the physics department at the University of Richmond. In addition to teaching a variety of undergraduate physics courses, I work on a variety of research projects in cosmology, the study of the origin, structure, and evolution of the Universe. University of Richmond undergraduates are involved in all aspects of this research. If you want to know more about my research, ask me!