AK01: Neutrino Odyssey
Vernon Barger, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison
Neutrinos are unique among the elementary particles in that they can quantum mechanically interchange indentities as they propagate. Long-standing puzzles about neutrino fluxes from astrophysical, accelerator, and reactor sources have recently been explained by these oscillations and mysteries about the fundamental nature of neutrinos are being solved. Exciting new frontiers are unfolding, including neutrino beams crisscrossing the Earth to study oscillations, telescopes to detect neutrinos from cosmic sources, and searches for the particles that give the dark matter in the universe. I will discuss what we know and what we expect to learn.

AK02: MiniBooNE: In Search of the Oscillating Neutrino
Bonnie Fleming, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
Neutrinos are pesky little particles, difficult to study but full of a wealth of information. They are the tiniest of the twelve fundamental particles of nature, the building blocks of the universe. Decades after their discovery, we are just learning the most basic things about them — they likely have mass and spontaneously morph from one type into another — oscillating back and forth. This lightweight a particle is also very difficult to detect because neutrinos whiz through almost everything without stopping at all. Nevertheless, with a high intensity neutrino beam created at Fermilab, the MiniBooNE experiment searches for evidence of oscillations between these elusive particles.

AK03: The AMANDA and IceCube South Pole Neutrino Telescopes
Francis Halzen, Univ. of Wisconsin
We will review the scientific case for neutrino astronomy. It has been made since the 1950's by pioneers who realized that, of all high-energy particles, only neutrinos convey astrophysical information from the edge of the Universe and from deep inside its most cataclysmic high-energy sites near black holes. With the Antarctic Muon and Neutrino Detector Array (AMANDA), we have performed the first scans of the sky using neutrinos of TeV-energy and above as cosmic messengers. We have searched with improved sensitivity for magnetic monopoles, cold dark matter and TeV-scale gravity. Most importantly, by observing neutrinos produced by cosmic rays hitting the Earth's atmosphere, we have presented proof of concept for an expandable technology with which to build the ultimate kilometer-scale neutrino observatory, IceCube.

AK04: Mad Scientists Send Neutrinos Under Wisconsin!
(a.k.a., The MINOS Experiment).
Jon Urheim, Univ. of Minnesota
Yes, it is true. A new beamline is being constructed at Fermi National Accelerator Lab near Chicago that will produce an intense beam of neutrinos beginning in late 2004, directed towards the Soudan Underground Laboratory in northern Minnesota. There, one-half mile below ground in a former iron mine, a 5,000-ton steel and plastic scintillator detector has been assembled to detect neutrinos from this beam. I will describe the beam, the detector, and what we will be trying to measure with this apparatus. I will also discuss some larger implications this experimental program might have, for example, in gauging the role of neutrinos with regard to the origin of the imbalance between matter and antimatter in the universe.

AK05: The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search
Priscilla Cushman, Univ. of Minnesota
The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search, CDMS, is looking for weakly-interacting particles, or WIMP's, that could represent most of the mass of the universe. We are in the process of moving from a shallow site at Stanford to a deeper site in the Soudan Underground Lab in northern Minnesota, in order to reduce our background rate. Our detectors would then represent the coldest spot in Minnesota at only 0.02 degrees above absolute zero.

BA01: Green Physics at Home: the Hard, the Soft, and the Complementary
E.J. Zita, The Evergreen State College
For more than 20 years, students at The Evergreen State College have earned B.A. and B.S. degrees in physics through theme-based courses. We try to provide open, nontraditional learning experiences that maximize student engagement and growth. We use established methods such as interactive lectures, seminars (Oxford), and learning-through-discussion (Carleton), and newer methods such as peer instruction (Harvard) and workshop physics. What techniques work, how and why? Yes, it's (partly) true that Evergreen has no departments, divisions, grades, or majors. This provides some unusual curricular freedom. Still, we have enough in common with traditional colleges that some of our better experiments may be useful elsewhere. We also face challenges common to many colleges, from underprepared students to supermajors, from limited resources to curricular competition. We'll describe some favorite interdisciplinary physics courses (beginning to advanced). We'll share ideas that have worked through the years, and ideas about how to avoid some pitfalls.

BA02: To Cohort or Not to Cohort: An Experiment in Extensive Integration and Partial Differentiation
Yevgeniya V. Zastavker, F. W. Olin
College of Engineering Many classrooms currently implement "hands-on," "interdisciplinary", "team-oriented", or "project-based" educational methodologies. Olin College has combined all of these learning modes in an unorthodox pedagogical system, lovingly called a "cohort." Cohorts form the nucleus of Olin's educational system during the freshman and sophomore years. They synthesize two or three different subjects into a single interdisciplinary course taught by a team of faculty; the freshman year cohort combining mathematics and physics with a major engineering project that builds upon and enhances these two subject areas. In this talk, I will show how this tri-disciplinary symbiosis yields a fruitful learning environment furthering a deeper understanding for students. I will show how, for instance, an artistically inclined student may experience Newtonian Mechanics by building a kinetic sculpture, a project combining art and concepts of motion. In one student's words, "I don't know anymore whether I am learning Math, Physics, or working on a Project!"

CC01: Introducing Newtonian Mechanics with the Principle of Least Action
Edwin Taylor, Massachusetts Institute of Tech.
The principle of least action applies powerfully to many fields of physics. In mechanics it leads to the scalar Lagrange equations (also quickly derivable from F = ma), which easily analyze the motion of mechanical systems subject to constraints. We can start toward this goal with another scalar, energy, its various forms and its conservation. Conservation of mechanical energy plus initial conditions specify completely the one-dimensional motion of a particle in a conservative potential. Potential energy diagrams encourage qualitative analysis of motions. For motion described by more than one coordinate, we graduate to the principle of least action and Lagrange's equations. Looking back, Noether's theorem confirms immediately what quantities are conserved. Fundamental formulations of general relativity and quantum mechanics reduce to the principle of least action in limiting cases. The fundamental principle of least action illuminates the way to advanced topics in physics.

CC02: GPS Satellites and Lagrangians
Elisha Huggins, Dartmouth College
Ever since I was first exposed to a Lagrangian, I wanted to understand the reason for the minus sign in the formula L = T - V. A physical context for that minus sign is provided by the timing of GPS satellites.

CC03: Getting the Most Action Out of Least Action
Thomas A. Moore, Pomona College
Presenting the Principle of Least Action in the introductory physics course would provide a number of fascinating opportunities for teaching physics in new ways. In this talk, I will explore some of these opportunities in both introductory physics and subsequent upper-level courses, and reflect on the influence that this would have on the selection of topics in such courses.

DD01: Teaching the Physics and Physiology of Rollercoasters
David W. Gerdes, Univ. of Michigan
Roller coasters and other amusement park rides offer an exciting laboratory for exploring key ideas from classical mechanics such as forces, projectile motion, circular motion, and conservation laws. In our Rollercoaster Physics summer course at the University of Michigan, we have developed a curriculum that teaches these concepts through video analysis of rides, as well as hands-on experiments and activities. The culminating event is a trip to an amusement park, where students use wearable electronic data loggers to collect acceleration and other data from some of the world's highest and fastest roller coasters. By correlating these data with video of the rides and their own experience, students learn the connection between forces and physiological sensations. Using these data, we can also deduce some interesting physics-related design features of these rides. Students are then invited to consider why some forces produce mild sensations, others produce a "thrill," and still others can result in injury.

DD02: Bodies Instead of Blocks - Learning Mechanics in the Context of Biomechanics
Nancy Beverly, Mercy College
Biomechanics is a natural vehicle for exploration of mechanics, enhancing student engagement and perceived relevance. Students can be introduced to concepts through their own body movements, moving objects and moving themselves, with their own kinesthetic senses providing additional input. The human body can be explored as a point object, with focus on the dynamics of the center of mass, and extended body dynamics can be examined in terms of human limbs. Sensors attached on or directed to students' own bodies, sensors attached to model skeletons, and video analysis allow students to relate bodily sensations to graphical representation and mathematical modeling of body dynamics. Student awareness of their own biomechanics encourages reinforcement of physics thinking during their daily activities. Materials to be shown are in development as part of the Humanizing Physics Project.

DD03: Will Success Spoil Positron Emission Tomography?
Robert J. Nickles, Univ. of Wisconsin 60
Positron emission tomography (PET), began as an academic preserve for researchers intent on imaging physiological function with authentic bio-compounds at tracer concentrations. These criteria leave a short list of radionuclidic building blocks ([C-11],..) with half-lives measured in minutes. This creates tight coupling between the accelerator, the labeling and the scanning of animals, normal volunteers or patients with PET scanners of ever-improving resolution. The physicist plays several key roles in this chain: cyclotron jockey, scanner builder and compartmental modeler. In the late 1990's, PET entered the mainstream, winning approval for re-imbursement. PET sites are now doubling yearly, but with success comes regulatory scrutiny and commercial interests dominating PET tracer distribution. Against this new backdrop, the role of the physicist working in PET must be re-defined. Employment opportunities abound for the physicist at the B.S. or M.S. level, suggesting that the topic should be included in the modern physics undergraduate curriculum.

EC01: Camel's Hump, Edwin Taylor, and the Paradox of Problem Solving
Daniel Styer, Oberlin College
Problem solving is perhaps the physicist's most valued skill, yet physics courses do little to teach problem solving explicitly. This talk uses case studies (including Taylor and Wheeler's Spacetime Physics) to explicate the value of problem solving, and introduces three techniques ("identify method of solution," "prove me wrong," and "no fuzzy math") for improving students' problem solving skills.

EC02: Spacetime Physics and Beyond: The Ongoing Revolution in the Pedagogy of Relativity
Thomas Moore, Pomona College
The publication of the first edition of Taylor and Wheeler's Spacetime Physics represented a turning point in the teaching of relativity, not only by introducing a thoroughly modern and four-dimensional perspective on the theory but by offering new and creative tools for presenting its core concepts. In this talk, I will review the impact of this book on the undergraduate teaching of relativity, discuss some developments in relativistic pedagogy since its publication, and reflect on where we might go from here.

EC03: Making Physics Matter
Bruce Sherwood, North Carolina State Univ
Edwin Taylor has worked hard to bring cutting-edge contemporary physics to lower-level undergraduate students, a reform which is long overdue and vitally important. One of the things that has made biology so attractive is that even freshman biology deals with DNA. In contrast, freshman mechanics deals with inclined planes (but see1 and 2 for alternatives). Moreover, introductory physics makes few distinctions among different kinds of matter and their properties. The objects are typically anonymous (3 kg blocks or 5 microcoulomb charges), yet the properties of matter are a major concern of physicists and are also important in engineering and nanotechnology. Only black holes lack distinctive properties!

Return to UEC Homepage

AAPT

Last updated 08/10/2003