Course Announcements

• 6/9  The GoPost will disappear at 1 am on June 22.  Download anything you want before then.
  
• 6/9 The solution to the final exam is posted on GoPost.  Both the TA and I are going to a conference Wednesday morning through Friday noon, so there is a good chance that grades won't be finalized until Friday afternoon or Saturday.  Both grades on the final exam and course grades will be uploaded into the Catalyst Gradebook when they are ready.
  
• 6/1  The last HW set has been modified slightly to add a hint for problem 8A.  You might want to re-download Extra8.pdf.
  
• 5/7  I figured out how to publish grades on Gradebook, so you now should be able to see them.  Let me know if there are problems.
• 5/7  The Extra5.pdf file was on the web on May 1, but never got linked to the main HW page.  That problem has thus been added to Extra6.pdf for the 6th  homework set.  Note that midterm 2 will cover through HW 6 (lecture on May 11).
  
• 5/2  Midterm grades are posted on Catalyst Gradebook (as are the 1st 3 HW grades).  The statistics for the class are available here as a pdf.
  
• 4/27  Week 4 homework is now posted -- it is only 3 problems due to the combination of the midterm and late posting.
  
• 4/24  The solution to the midterm is now posted on GoPost. 
  
• 4/6  This week's Physical Review Focus article is relevant to this week's statistical mechanics lectures.  The website http://focus.aps.org takes a current article in Physical Review and describes it at a level you can understand. The website http://physics.aps.org also highlights current research advances.  Usually at least one article each week in one or the other places is relevant to statistical mechanics.
• 4/6  Lecture notes from the first four classes are posted on GoPost
  
• 3/31  The first homework assignment is now posted.  It will be due 5 pm Thursday, April 9.
• 3/31  Please fill out the class enrollment Survey , if you have not already.
  
• 3/25 Web-based communications for which it is appropriate to limit access to registered students will be posted on the class GoPost.  This includes posting of lecture notes, homework solutions, and exam solutions, as well as any chat-room discussion boards in which class members wish to participate.  Auditors should contact Prof. Olmstead to have his or her UWNetID added to the list of participants.
  
• 3/25 Welcome to Physics 328, Statistical Mechanics.  To help me prepare the course at the proper level, please fill out this Start of Quarter Survey by April 3.  If you were registered on March 25, you should receive an email announcing this survey and containing the correct URL.
  
• 
  Older announcements.

Office Hours and Contact Information

• Prof. Marjorie Olmstead olmstd@u.washington.edu    Office: B433    685-3031

• Office Hours:  B433 (may spill over into adjacent lounge by B439).
• After class, 11:20-12:00 MWF or by appointment.
• Teaching Assistant Ludan Huang  ldhuang@u.washington.edu
  

General Information

• Text
• The required text is An Introduction to Thermal Physics, by Daniel R. Schroeder (Addison-Wesley, 2000)
  
• Required Work
• There will be 9 regular homework assignments (see Homework page)
• There will be 2 midterm examinations (see Exam Info page)
• There will be 1 cumulative final examination (see Exam Info page)
• Grade Calculations
• Your best 8 homeworks will count 25% of your grade.
• The best 3 of (midterm 1, midterm 2, final, final) will count 25% each.  In other words, if you do better on the final than on one of your midterms, the final will count 50% of your grade and your best midterm will count 25%.  If you do worse on your final than on the midterms, the final will count the same as each midterm -- each worth 25%.
• Timing
• Homework assignments must be turned in by 5 pm the day on which they are due to either Prof. Olmstead or the TA.  Homework turned in between noon and 5 pm should be brought directly to the TA or placed in his mailbox in the main office.  There will typically be a folder there for the homeworks.
  
• If you have special circumstances beyond your control (getting very sick, family emergency, job interview, grad school visits, etc.) that prevent you from timely homework or from being at a midterm, you must contact Prof. Olmstead BEFOREHAND to discuss whether or not accommodations are appropriate.   Circumstances which you should have been able to control (e.g. bad time management), or late notification of Prof. Olmstead (e.g., when you get back from the interview and not before you leave), results in that assignment or midterm being the one which is dropped.

Course Links

• Homework
• Syllabus and Class Schedule
• Exam Info
  
• GoPost

Links to Physics Career/Major Information

• Information on Majoring in Physics at UW.
• UW Women in Science and Engineering
Provides networking, mentoring, tutoring, Study Center (for Credit!)
• UW Chapter of the Society of Physics Students
• Information on Physics Graduate Schools
  
• UW Libraries Reference page on Jobs and Careers.
• American Physical Society Statistical Reports on Physics Education and Employment, including
• 
  
• 2006 Salary Summary Report(pdf file)

• Who's Hiring Physics Bachelors (by state) Companies Hiring Physics Bachelors (html) in 2004-2006
  
• Initial Employment Report of 2003 and 2004 Physics and Astronomy Degree Recipients (pdf file)
• Preliminary results from 2005-2006 survey for PhD's (pdf file) and Bachelors (pdf file)
  

• These tables and figures document the number of vacancies, retirements, recruitments, and new hires at US academic physics departments. Also included is a table showing the increase in the percentage of the physics faculty who are temporary and non-tenure track. Updated statistics about women and minority faculty in physics are also presented.
  
  Women in Physics and Astronomy, 2005 (pdf file)
  
  Data on current and historic trends in the representation of women in physics and astronomy, including comparative data on women in related fields. Discusses the academic "pipeline" and the point at which women are leaving physics. Data on US minority women and on women in physics in other countries are also presented. Supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.
  
• Physics Bachelors with Master's Degrees (pdf file)
This report describes physics bachelors who earned their degrees from 1991 through 1993, subsequently earned master's degrees in a variety of fields, and were working in 1999.   Master's degree fields, reasons for attending graduate school, and preparedness for graduate school are all discussed. Also documented are employment fields, salaries, knowledge and skills used on the job, and evaluation of undergraduate physics education.
• The Early Careers of Physics Bachelors (pdf file)
An examination of the employment patterns of people with no degrees other than physics bachelor's degrees, five to eight years after graduation. The report includes common job activities and skills used on the job. It also describes these physics bachelors' evaluations of how well physics education prepared them for careers.

• Physics and Astronomy Senior Report: Class of 2003 (pdf file)
• A window onto the backgrounds, experiences, and future plans of physics and astronomy majors at the point of graduation.

Old Announcements