Minutes

for the Physics Department Advisory Council meeting
held Saturday, November 15, 2003 in UH141E.

Present: R. Benjamin, J. Constantinescu, G. Groeschl, J. Hadley, D. Hegeman, D. Keyser,
K. Menningen, P. Rybski, S. Sahyun, M. Wickliffe

I. Call to order at 10:06am.

II. The current status of the physics department was reviewed:

A. Staff resources have been cut again, with 5.00 FTE assigned to the physics department. One new faculty member, Dr. Robert Benjamin, was welcomed to the department, and a half time academic staff, Dr. Sudip Dasgupta, was hired to cover the half of Dr. Benjamin’s teaching load that was purchased as release time for a research grant.

B. There are currently 42 physics majors, 23 in the engineering emphasis, 9 in the graduate emphasis, 6 in the teaching emphasis, and 4 in the industry emphasis. The physics club, however, has suffered due to very low participation. Concerted efforts to involve the physics majors in undergraduate research are ongoing.

C. The Upham Hall renovation project has commenced and the new wing is complete. Renovation of the north half of the building begins in January, with the south half to follow about a year later. If all goes well the project will be complete by the spring 2006 semester.

D. Our curriculum has been enhanced. The new 100-level courses have now all been taught at least once. The PHYSCS 170 Introductory Physics (for science majors) series was modified to help students cope with the mathematics, especially during the first semester. New course proposals are being considered, including an overhaul of the PHYSCS 210 Descriptive Physics course, and newly proposed Introduction to Engineering and Materials Science courses. The lack of faculty will hamper our ability to teach any new courses.

III. The recommendations of last year’s meeting were reviewed.

A. It was recommended that we invite alumni or other physicists to the PHYSCS 170 course to give students an idea of what careers they might have with a physics degree. Career Day in PHYSCS 170 for this fall will be December 5, 2003, at 9:55am in Upham Hall room 141E. Members of the Advisory Council are invited to participate!

B. It was recommended that we prepare a recruitment poster to send to area high schools. A prototype poster was reviewed by the council. It was suggested that the poster emphasize university-supported one-on-one research and the low student-faculty ratio.

C. A fledgling student internship program began last year with one student being placed at a local electronics manufacturer. It was suggested that we offer academic credit for internships and that we take more initiative in arranging appointments.

D. It was recommended that we begin a summer teacher institute at UW-Whitewater. No progress has been made in the past year on implementing this suggestion. The present discussion centered around the need for a different approach to distinguish our program from well-entrenched UW-River Falls program. A Whitewater program might attract southeast Wisconsin teachers who might not be able to afford the travel and long stay at River Falls. External funding will likely be necessary for the program to fly.

IV. Discussion

A. There was discussion about the types of equipment we might request for outfitting the newly renovated spaces in Upham Hall.

i. If we upgrade our old optical benches, several members highly recommended the PASCO brand equipment.

ii. One member suggested that we find low-tech equipment typical of HS laboratories for at least some of our activities. Perhaps physics education students might do a project to compare low cost equipment with high tech equipment. It was pointed out that especially for future physics teachers it is more important to learn the physics concepts rather than how to use the equipment, because the likelihood is low they’ll encounter exactly the same equipment in their career.

B. There was discussion about how to increase student participation in research opportunities and internships. It was suggested that summer opportunities be highlighted in the weekly department email newsletter. It was also recommended that we propose interdisciplinary projects that might involve other science students.

C. Representatives from both Rayovac Corporation and Digi-Star indicated an interest in accepting UW-Whitewater physics students as interns in their companies.

D. One member indicated that students need better training in multivariate statistics of the kind often employed by manufacturers in order to optimize their products and to make key decisions (T-tests, ANOVA, response surface methodology, etc.).

E. One member suggested the PHYSCS 100 Energy class take some time to explore the economics of rechargeable batteries. Disposable batteries cost ~1¢/shot in a digital camera, but NiMH batteries cost about 0.03¢/shot over the lifetime of the battery, including the capital cost of the batteries and charger.

V. The meeting adjourned for lunch at 11:58am.

Respectfully Submitted, cc: Chancellor Miller

Provost Telfer

Interim Dean Stone

Dean Ross

Kenneth L Menningen University archivist

Department chair Advisory council members