Information here is preliminary.  The web page is under construction.

Room B-131, Mondays 2:00-3:30 PM; First meeting Monday January 28, 2002

Instructors : Philip B. Allen [Office B-146;  2-8179;  philip.allen@sunysb.edu]
                    Louis DiMauro   [BNL 344-4323; Stony Brook Office ?; dimauro@bnl.gov]

Goals:

    Gain experience in oral presentation
    Hear interesting talks
    Learn about new developments
    Struggle with new ideas incompletely formulated

 Rules:

    Each student will give one short and one long talk.  Every student must attend all talks. Attendance will be taken.  Students may pick the subject of the short talk, subject to approval by an instructor.  Students should choose the time and subject of the long talk from the list provided here.  Conflicts are decided by lottery.  Long talks on topics not listed in this handout should be approved by an instructor. Approval is given only if you did not talk anywhere about that subject before.  The speaker should confer with an instructors at least two weeks before the long talk. The speaker is responsible for researching the literature and talking to other faculty members, if necessary.   While researching a subject, if a student wishes to change the topic, this requires discussion with an instructor.  Talks may not be postponed.

Grading:

    (a) Short talks contribute 20% of the grade, and they will be discussed in class. No abstract is needed.
    (b) The written abstract, content and presentation of the long talk together contribute 65% of  the grade.  [Content: depth of coverage, amount of literature search involved, scientific accuracy, recent developments, etc.  Presentation: structure and organization of talk, maintaining audience interest, keeping time limit, etc.]
    (c) Attendance and activity (asking the speakers good questions, participating in discussions) contributes 15%.

Abstract:

    Prepare a written abstract for the long talk. The format must conform to the abstracts of the meetings of the American Physical Society, described at the APS home page. You may use the free abstract testing service provided by APS.  Sorting categories (PACS) can be found at the APS home page.
Follow the style of typical abstracts; be specific.  Use LATEX to make an electronic abstract. Tell the instructors (in advance, before the deadline expires) if you do not have access to LATEX.
When you LATEX the abstract, you will need the "apsab.sty" style file in the appropriate directory of your system. If you use a computer in the department, and a working copy of LATEX is installed, it is very likely that the style file is already there. Submit your abstract by email to both of the instructors, or FTP it to "solidstate.physics.sunysb.edu".  Deadline for submission is one week before the talk (2:00pm on Thursday). ASCII FILES ONLY (no encoded files, .dvi files, postscript files, just the plain old .tex file).

Talk:

    No long derivations; talk about physics.  Read "Advice...." in Physics Today, July, 1991.  Hand out to each student a printed copy of your abstract before your talk.  Prepare and use overhead transparencies. Use (color) printers and xerox machines if possible to create attractive graphs (that are LARGE enough to be seen by those sitting in the back of the room!), but BE CAREFUL: not all types of transparency foils work for this purpose, and the wrong ones may damage the copier.  Try to give an overview of the suggested topic first, concentrate on one issue in the second half of the talk. Do not try to present everything you have read.  Plan your talk for 8 minutes (short talk) or 25 minutes (long talk). Expect 2 minutes (10 minutes) discussion. Speakers will be brutally cut off when the time limit expires, and their grades will suffer accordingly.  Practice your talk in front of others before giving it in class.

Resources:

    Archives of the Bulletin of the APS (BAPS) are available on-line. The Stony Brook Library subscribes to several research databases.  Particularly valuable is the Web of Science.  If you try to access these services from off-campus computers, you may encounter difficulties.  Transparencies: A132, Instructional Lab (Joe Feliciano or Frank Chin).

If you have a physical psychiatric/emotional, medical or learning disability that may impact on your ability to carry out the assigned course work, we urge you that you contact the staff in the Disabled
Student Services office (DSS) in Room 133, Humanities, 632-6748/TDD. DSS will review your concerns, and determine, with you, what accommodations are necessary and appropriate. All information and documentation of disability is confidential.