Extended Independent Project (P-E | SPA6776)

Please consult QMPlus for the authoritative information on this module.

Year: 3 | Semester: A&B | Level: 6 | Credits: 30

Prerequisites: At least 4 c.u. in Physics
Lectures: Not applicable | Tut: 510 511 514 515 (notation)
Exam: Assessment will consist of the following elements; Performance during project (20%), Final Report (50%) and Seminars plus Final Oral (30%)
Practical work: Not applicable | Ancillary teaching: Not applicable

Course organiser: Dr Craig Agnor | Course deputy: Dr Jeanne Wilson

Synopsis:

Students will initially register for the extended project PHY-776. This course provides a student with the experience of working, independently, on a problem within physics (often using the resources found within a research group of the department). These may be problems in experimental, computational or theoretical physics or a project in astronomy. A list of projects is available on the extensive projects homepage containing a brief description of the projects on offer and the supervisors of those projects. Students shall arrange a project by reading these pages and meeting with potential supervisors. Associated with the project is a weekly mandatory seminar to which the student will occasionally be expected to contribute. In the light of inadequate progress during the first semester the student may, after producing a report, be relegated to a 1CU Independent Project following careful consideration by a panel of staff (Supervisor, CO and DCO).

Aims:

The aim of the Extended Independent Project is to allow students the possibility to carry out extensive research work independently on a chosen project, towards specified goals. These goals will vary from project to project and may include: (i)Producing a piece of code to achieve a specified task on computer e.g. simulation of a physical process; (ii) Carrying out a series of measurements to establish or disprove a working hypothesis; (iii) Building a piece of equipment e.g. to interface an experiment to a PC; (iv) Solving a differential equation in the study of a theoretical problem.

Outcomes:

At the end of the project the student will have gained experience in: (i) How to present scientific results in brief seminar form to a non specialist scientific audience, this may involve use of audio-visual aids such as powerpoint presentations; (ii) How to use literature surveys and internet searches to obtain information about a specific problem related to his/her project. The student will have acquired a degree of critical thinking in the approach to using such sources of information; (iii) How to write a scientific report describing the research carried out. In producing this report the student should learn about use of software such as WORD and EXCEL.