Town Hall Meeting Notes: Physics Major Revisions Explained, Plan of Action for the Undergraduate Lounge, and Study Abroad
Written by Nina Bahar

A number of hefty issues were aired at the Physics Majors’ Town Hall Meeting last Friday, November 7th, including options for studying abroad as a physics major, an explanation of the new physics curriculum, and increasing communication between faculty and students.

Professor David Hogg, the Director of Undergraduate Studies, began the meeting by establishing that the department would like to have town halls every semester while thanking Bill LePage for organizing the event. He was then followed by Physics Undergraduate Advisor Professor Burton Budick, who expressed the concern that there needs to be more communication between physics majors and faculty. At a later point in the town hall, a few venues for establishing Budick’s suggestion were brought up and it was shown that his concern is especially relevant to research opportunities for undergrads. After Budick concluded his remarks, Professor Hogg returned to commence discussion on the four chief points guiding the town hall meeting.

The first of said points was changes to the physics major degree. These changes begin with the fact that the Modern Physics 1&2 courses are being combined into a single second semester sophomore course entitled Classical and Quantum waves (to be taken by this year’s sophomores).Quantum Mechanics 1 is now a degree requirement while Electricity and Magnetism 2 and Quantum Mechanics 2 are not required. The degree will be more contemporary and more flexible in that there will be less pre-and co-requisites. While this does assume that some extracurricular work may need to be done by students taking advanced courses to ensure that they’re adequately prepared, ultimately it yields several benefits. First of all, increased flexibility makes it possible for a physics major to “take a semester off.” This is useful if, say, one wants to study abroad (discussed in more detail later). It is also good because it makes completing the major in three years less overwhelming, which is helpful for those who join the major after having spent a non-physics year at NYU. Furthermore, having a more flexible physics major facilitates double majoring. At this point in time, students began asking questions.

One student asked what the suggested course timescale would be with respect to maximizing GRE performance. Hogg responded that taking Quantum Mechanics 1 in the spring and Quantum Mechanics 2 in the fall was the best course of action, which is something to be considered by the department as they are not currently offered for those time periods due to staffing constraints. He went on to say that Experimental Physics will likely be offered both spring and fall semesters, but that that is not yet guaranteed. Another student asked when the curriculum changes will take effect, and Hogg said that they’re effective as of fall 2009 (with the exception of Classical and Quantum Waves for sophomores, which begins this coming semester). Upperclassmen that are already well into the old physics curriculum can move to the rules of the new curriculum provided they petition by asking Hogg and Budick. Hogg and Budick can approve said petition, and they will get a degree while continuing under the new requirements. For example if one would be taking Quantum Mechanics 2 next semester under the older requirements but does not want to take Quant. 2 then s/he can petition to get the degree under the new set of rules. The question of whether or not Mathematical Physics was going to be increased from a one to two semester course was also raised (given the breadth of material covered in Mathematical Physics) and it was determined that some of the material from Mathematical Physics would appear in Classical and Quantum waves so that it could stay at one semester and cover a less intense amount of material. A final question was asked about new electives, but this was set aside and answered later during Q&A time.

The second point of discussion was setting up an undergraduate lounge for physics majors. The Society of Physics Students (SPS), through much collaborative effort, made a draft for the lounge. Anyone who is interested in the draft should email Bernie Beckerman and John Thompson (Bernard.Beckerman@gmail.com). The draft will be tweaked a little bit and it will become policy. This policy will go to the department and be included in the space plan. The ultimate decision-making process involves many other entities. The building is run by the provost, the provost empowers the dean, the dean gives us some space, and we must use the space in a way that is justifiable on an intellectual, space-efficient basis. We are doing what we can to keep plans for the lounge moving. It would encourage informal peer instruction (peers teaching each other) which is another benefit of note.

The third point of discussion was studying abroad as a physics major. By a show of hands, more than 80% of majors want to go abroad. There are a few ways to approach this. With the flexibility of the new major requirements, it is possible to take a semester off from physics and go abroad. This is not the most liked option according to some of the students that I have spoken to, because some of the optional classes they’ll be missing abroad are favored highly by graduate schools. That being said, the Physics department is interested in choosing an NYU global site and teaching 1-2 advanced courses at that site. While staffing is still a concern, offering our own course abroad will definitely be explored. As far as location is concerned, Paris and Florence seem to be the most ideal NYU abroad sites. Paris and Florence both have excellent physics resources and many professors could be easily persuaded to spend a semester in either location. It should also be noted that Florence is NYU’s largest abroad site while Paris may have a few more resource-options. It seems best that the courses to be offered by NYU rather than through exchange programs. Additionally, putting people in abroad locations would free up more space in the Meyer building.

After studying abroad was discussed, the floor was opened to student questions:

• Student (S)- Can Physics Majors have swipe access to the Meyer building over weekends?
  Hogg (H)- I’ll email Jacqueline Downing in Meyer 424 and majors can go to her for weekend building access.
  

• S- What new electives are being discussed at this point in time?
  H- Astrophysics is being discussed as a new major, which would yield a new set of courses such as cosmology, observational lab, and radioactive processes. There is a course on General Relativity that is also being considered and we are looking into additional soft condensed matter options. There is a course called Environmental Fluid Dynamics that will be available for fall 2009. If students have a course idea, they should email me (david.hogg@nyu.edu) or Bill Le Page (wlp1@nyu.edu).
  
  • S- Would it be possible to create an online voting system where we list prospective courses and students could vote on what is most appealing?
    H- That is something to consider. We are planning on inserting a special topics place holder in the curriculum that would allow us to teach course on current events in physics. For example, if we had one in the near future it could be on how the Large Hadron Collider could create black holes.
  
  

• S- Is it possible to make graduate courses accessible to undergrads.?
  H- Computational physics is both a graduate and undergraduate course this semester, so we can see how that goes. If anyone is in the class and has any feedback it is definitely welcome (david.hogg@nyu.edu or wlp1@nyu.edu). We are aware that the Math department has graduate courses open to undergrads, and, as things stand now, one must get the teaching faculty member’s permission to take the graduate course. Perhaps we could come up with a different set of homework assignments or a different grading scheme for undergraduates who desire to do this.
  

• S- Is there any talk of a chemical physics course?
  H- Offering such a course would be a good idea. Because the Chemistry department offers a Physical Chemistry course perhaps we could work with them to design a chemical physics offering.
  

• S- What are the changes that are happening to an Intensive Major?
  H- We don’t know yet. There are a few strange things about physics to consider: it is no secret that our courses are essentially the most difficult on campus and, this being the case, only the best students can be physics majors to begin with. This fact makes establishing an Honors track or an Intensive track complicated because given the way that our department is, our major is already an Honors major. There is already a small group taking above-level classes. In writing recommendations, many faculty members try to make it clear that the physics courses taken by our students are much more challenging than other courses offered at NYU. One idea that is being considered is an Honors distinction that could be having undergraduate students serve as TA’s.
  

• S- Why are our lectures three credits as opposed to four?
  H- The history of the situation is this: all of NYU’s courses used to be three credits; NYU made all of them four credits within a short period of time (about a year or so). This brought about a 33% tuition raise for students. The physics department did not want to charge students more money for the same courses, so they kept their courses at three credits.
  Combination of students and Hogg- There are pros and cons to keeping them at 3 credits; students can take more courses per semester, but then again with too little credits students will not get financial aid, will get lousier course registration times, and will not have the amount of work that they’ve put into the courses reflected on their transcripts or in their g.p.a.
  

• S- Could we set up night homework sessions for introductory physics classes? We had them for Physics II and they were very helpful.
  Other students who took said Physics II course- They were definitely helpful.
  H- This idea is actually being batted around in the department right now. It would encourage peers to teach other peers, which is promoted by NYU with entities such as the learning center. One of the best ways to learn physics is to teach physics.
  

• S- Are there opportunities for physics undergrads to be TA’s?
  H- When there was a shortage of graduate students the physics department ended up letting undergrads be TA’s, and interestingly enough that was actually more successful. There is some resistance within the department with regards to putting undergrads as TA’s, but the subject is set to be discussed next semester by the committee. When asked who would be interested in being a Physics TA, 100% of the physics majors present raised their hands. There is a 1-2 hour per week elective on teaching physics for graduate students. Opening that up to undergrads is an option to consider.
  

• S- How do undergrads do research this summer/next year?
  H- Doing research as a physics major is REALLY IMPORTANT! It doesn’t have to be at NYU, there are plenty of REU opportunities available for the summer. In the department it seems that we need to establish a forum for research opportunities. Students need to be able to connect with faculty members. Research is best done when students and faculty members can “click.” You don’t just walk into a lab, do research, and leave. There is a sort of friendship involved. Soon we’ll have a more updated website with regards to research. Perhaps the SPS could also help run a seminar at the beginning of each semester.
  
  • S- One idea is to have a poster session. Those that have already done research could present their findings to interested parties and because it’s a poster session, interested parties don’t have to sit through three lectures about stuff they’re not interested in to hear the one lecture about stuff that they are interested in.
    H- We could get people who do summer REUs to repeat their presentations at the beginning of fall semester. When applying to graduate school it is key to have a recommendation letter from someone you’ve researched with. We also need to remind faculty to ask students that they like to do research with them.
  
  

• S- How is the physics minor changing/could Physics I-III count as a minor?
  H- We’re looking into what will be required for the minor at the moment, but the Physics I-III for major’s sequence can count as a minor.

By this point our town hall was just about ending. Hogg said that we’d continue this conversation next semester and that he encourages questions via email (david.hogg@nyu.edu)