Bulletin of the American Physical Society
APS April Meeting 2012
Volume 57, Number 3
Saturday–Tuesday, March 31–April 3 2012; Atlanta, Georgia
Session C6: Invited Session: Goals and Assessment of the Physics Graduate Program |
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Sponsoring Units: FEd FGSA Chair: Juan Burciaga, Mount Holyoke College Room: Embassy C |
Saturday, March 31, 2012 1:30PM - 2:06PM |
C6.00001: Beyond Physics Courses and Research: Preparing PhDs for Their Future Invited Speaker: Kenneth Heller With a few notable exceptions, there is a standard structure of U.S. graduate programs in physics designed to produce students with a PhD. This program is based on taking a few standard physics courses and then having a research apprenticeship culminating in writing a dissertation. However, most PhDs employed in academia, industry, or government agencies are expected to be leaders and teachers for which they often have little experience. The goal of this presentation is to open a discussion of how a graduate program can help their graduate students in this regard without adding time to the PhD process. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, March 31, 2012 2:06PM - 2:42PM |
C6.00002: Objectives and Assessment of the NMSU Physics Ph.D. program Invited Speaker: Stefan Zollner New Mexico State University (NMSU) in Las Cruces, NM, is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) and a member of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCA). As part of our continuous accreditation, the physics department annually assesses its progress towards goals and objectives. Our academic goals include the development of skills pertinent to solving advanced problems in physics, a mastery of advanced concepts in physics, an in-depth knowledge of one or more subfields, and develop the ability to conduct original research in a specialization. These goals are supported by objectives, including scientific expertise, advanced training, experimental training, communication skills, and technical know-how. We measure one direct student learning outcome, the ability to solve advanced problems in general physics subjects. The instrument for this measurement is our written physics comprehensive (Ph.D. candidacy) exam, which is administered by an examination committee consisting of all faculty members. We report annually on the percentage of students passing the exam in the various areas (QM, mechanics, E{\&}M, Stat. Mech.). Ineffective preparation of our students in one area would show up by unusually low scores in that area. Since the problems are written and graded by all faculty (not just by those who taught the class), this provides an independent assessment of student learning and also evidence by other professionals skilled in the field. Our examinations are similar to published exams at other institutions. The results of the exam provide feedback to the course instructors, to the students, and to the department head who schedules instructors and courses. In some cases, retaking a course has been a condition of passing the exam for a student. (I acknowledge the efforts of Gary Kyle, who has managed our assessment for many years, and of the entire NMSU physics faculty for contributing to this process.) [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, March 31, 2012 2:42PM - 3:18PM |
C6.00003: A New Curriculum for Physics Graduate Students Invited Speaker: Harald W. Griesshammer Effective Fall 2008, GW Physics implemented a new graduate curriculum, addressing nation-wide problems: (1) wide gap between 50-year-old curricula and the proficiencies expected to start research; (2) high attrition rates and long times to degree; (3) limited resources in small departments to cover all topics deemed essential. The new curriculum: (1) extends each course to 4 hours weekly for better in-depth coverage and cautious additions; (2) decreases the number of core-courses per semester to 2, with less ``parallel-processing'' of only loosely correlated lectures; (3) increases synergies by stricter logical ordering and synchronisation of courses; (4) frees faculty to regularly offer advanced courses; (5) integrates examples tied to ongoing research in our department; (6) integrates computational methods into core-lectures; (7) encourages focusing on concepts and ``meta-cognitive skills'' in studio-like settings. The new curriculum and qualifying exam, its rationale and assessment criteria will be discussed. This concept is tailored to the needs of small departments with only a few research fields and a close student-teacher relationship. [Preview Abstract] |
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