Syllabus: Atomic
and Electronic Structure of Matter, PHY971, Spring 2009
Credits: Total
Credits: 3 Description: Atomic structure, bravais
lattices, x-ray scattering. Vibrations, phonons, neutron scattering. Electron in
solids, electron gas. Bloch's theorem. Metals, semiconductors and insulators.
Introduction to cooperative phenomena.
INSTRUCTOR: Carlo Piermarocchi, Room 4263 Biomedical & Physical
Sciences, Telephone: 5-2231 Email: carlo at pa.msu.edu. Office hours:
Friday 10:00am-11:30am. Call or email to schedule an appointment at other
times.
Meetings: Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 11:30 pm to 12:20 pm in room
1308 BPS. The schedule of the lectures is here.
Homepage: http://www.pa.msu.edu/courses/current/PHY971/
Grading:
Group
assignments: The course is organized in the Problem Based
Learning format. Students are required to be
engaged in group activities and take control of their learning process during
the class and in meetings outside the class. Assignments will be given as part
of the group activity and will count towards your final grade (group
grade).
Midterm
Exams: There will be two midterm
exams on Wed march 4th and on Wed April 15th. If you miss
one midterm and provide a valid excuse (a written note from a doctor, dean
etc.) your midterm grade will be the same of the other midterm.
Individual
Project:
You will be given an individual project on a subject assigned by the instructor
or proposed by you. You will have to give a presentation in class of about 20
minutes and produce a written report at the end of the semester.
Final Grades: Grades are based on the following formula:
|
|
% |
|
First Midterm |
20 |
|
Second Midterm |
20 |
|
Group Work |
5 |
|
Individual Project Presentation |
30 |
|
Individual Project Report |
25 |
|
TOTAL |
100 |
The guaranteed
scale may be lowered in your favor but not raised is:
|
Total point percentage |
Final
grade |
|
>93% |
4.0 |
|
88%-93% |
3.5 |
|
83%-88% |
3.0 |
|
78%-83% |
2.5 |
|
73%-78% |
2.0 |
|
68%-73% |
1.5 |
|
60%-68% |
1.0 |
|
<50% |
0.0 |