Physics Department
Advising Tips for Prospective Majors
Potential physics majors and/or 3/2 engineering students:
Physics majors and engineering students need to get started
with their physics courses right away. The course sequence in these fields of
study is like a ladder, with the completion of each level of study required
before you move on the next rung. Delay in beginning the Introductory Physics
course can create problems later on.
You also need to begin your math courses during your first
year, taking the calculus sequence if your placement exam allows or the
appropriate pre-calculus course followed by the calculus sequence if not.
(This will be important advice for several other majors, so it will help
you to keep other options open, as well.)
Enroll in Physics 120 in the fall of your first year, and
schedule Physics 121 for the spring, if you are taking the calculus sequence
this year. Otherwise, you can take
this introductory sequence in your sophomore year and still complete the
essential physics major courses by the end of your senior year. Important note:
3/2 Engineering students only have three years to complete a major at Clark
before transferring to an Engineering school after their junior year. They must
take Introductory Physics and calculus their first semester.
Professor Arshad Kudrolli (793-7752) is the
undergraduate physics major advisor. Feel
free to contact him or any other member of the Physics Department for details on
our program if your assigned advisor is in another department – we will work
with you and your advisor to help you set up a program that will be best for
you. If you are interested in our
3/2 engineering program, you should contact Professor Charles Agosta (793-7736),
who is the advisor for that program.
We suggest that you begin taking your required Perspectives
and other PLS courses right away. This
will provide you with the maximum flexibility in your junior and senior years,
when you may wish to pursue more specialized or individualized courses in
physics and related fields.
Once you declare your major as physics, our physics major
advisor will work directly with you to help you tailor our program to your own
particular interests.
Students wishing to take a broad introductory physics
sequence:
The Department offers two introductory physics
sequences: Physics 110-111 is a general introduction covering the major areas of
physics in sufficient depth for the needs of pre-medical students (and those
planning careers in other health professions), biology majors, and others who
are interested in the subject but do not expect to use physical principles in a
rigorously quantitative fashion in later studies or in their careers.
The mathematics used in the sequence includes algebra and trigonometry.
Physics 120-121 covers much the same material, but
uses the full power of the calculus to develop a deeper quantitative sense of
the interplay of theory and experiment in the physicist’s understanding of
nature. Calculus is a co-requisite,
and may be taken at the same time as Physics 120-121. This sequence is designed for potential physics majors,
chemistry majors, mathematics majors, and 3/2 engineering program candidates,
and is also the right course for others who have the math background and the
desire to get the most thorough treatment of physics as a part of their
university education.
Because physics is based in the real world, both of these
introductory sequences have laboratory sections as essential elements.
Students who would like to take a physics course for
SP credit, or have interests in any of the areas in which we offer courses for
non-physics-majors:
The Physics Department offers several courses for
Science Perspective credit, including both of the introductory sequences
described above. Other available
courses offering SP credit are Astronomy 001 and 002, stand-alone courses that
both offer an introduction to the main ideas of astronomy as they have come to
us from researchers over the centuries and from current-day observations.
Astronomy 001 deals a bit more with the universe at all scales, including
cosmological questions and the distribution of galaxies throughout the universe;
Astronomy 002 deals in somewhat more detail with our closer neighbors, the other
planets of our solar system. Either
course provides a well-rounded introduction to the most important aspects of
astronomy, and each course has an essential observational component.
The Department offers Discovering Physics, Physics 020, and
a new course in The Nature of Light, Physics 030, for non-physics-majors who
would like to gain some understanding of a few interesting areas of physics in
depth, with especial attention to how we have come to know about them.
Discovering Physics is entirely lab based, building up the students’
understanding from their own hands-on experiments.
The Nature of Light takes a historical-conceptual approach, looking at
how the ideas developed through the work of physicists over the years, and also
provides direct experience with the phenomena under discussion.
In collaboration with the Environmental Sciences program,
we also offer Energy and the Environment, Physics 140, in alternate years.
This course, as with our other courses open to non-majors, assumes no
background of university-level physics, but aims at a more-detailed
understanding of the physical underpinnings of one of the most crucial elements
of our relationship with our environment, namely the resources, exploitation,
values, and side-effects of the use of energy in our technological society.
Several of our advanced courses also carry SP credit,
including Oscillations, Waves, and Optics, Physics 130, Quantum Physics
Laboratory, Physics 131, and Computer Simulation Laboratory, Physics 127.
These courses require a good basic physics background and permission of
the instructor.
Students interested in other courses:
The Physics Department offers a course in electronics that
is appropriate for students majoring in other sciences, and a variety of
advanced physics courses that may be of interest to individual students.
The members of the Department would welcome students who wish to discuss
any of our courses to see whether they might be suitable for their individual
needs and interests.
For general information and routing to appropriate persons
for any specific questions you may have, please contact the Physics Department
Office, at 793-7169.
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