Meeting Notes
State of Department
Department of Physics and Astronomy
Advisory Board Meeting
Fall 2000
Updates & Goals
- News items you'd like to share
- Goals for today's session
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Advisory Board
Assessment After 1st Year
Summary of your value to the Department
State of the Department
Review high points
Presentation on departmental progress
Research
- Bhattacharjee - elected as an AAAS fellow
- Goree - first scientific experiment on international space station
- Annual funding - $8054K
- 75 active contracts
- 72 invited talks
- Quantum computing (OSTC / Math Physics)
- University responding to requests for a IS/CS initiative
- Request for new astronomer turned down
- Outbid on laser line by Utah
- Research brochure under construction
- New fabrication policy
- Hiring plan
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Teaching
- NSF proposal - design of experiment and industry standard tools in 2nd year labs
- Hosting IAAPT meeting in November
- Sent Dale Stille to AAPT workshop on Designing Science Olympics
- Ron Vogel hired as new lab coordinator
- Exit interviews and round table discussions with students
- Solar telescope on roof
- Helping Engineering meet ABET requirements through service courses
- Working with math on new majors math sequence
- Applied physics program - need strategies to increase enrollment
- Thinking about restarting physics of music (Skiff)
- Quarks to Quasars - enrollment increase from 5 to 70
- NSF fellowships
- Degrees awarded in 1999-00: BS - 9 MS - 5 PhD - 7
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Outreach
- QuarkNet - 8 teachers here for summer to work in HEP research
- Saturday and Evening course for HS teachers (Stille)
- Equipment donated to high schools
- Developing new turnkey telescope system with software
- 30 community based presentations (K-12 talks, service clubs, youth clubs)
- Leon Lederman talk in October
- Space Pioneers (Des Moines and Waterloo)
- Van Allen documentary / biography
- Lab tours of new instructional equipment
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Recruiting
- Continue organized visits and follow-up calls
- Visit to CAO's of community colleges - discussed improving relations, recruiting, delivery of classes electronically
- GRE scores
- Drake test
- 14 new graduate students - 2 women and 1 minority
- Letters to HS science teachers and guidance counselors
- New Graduate and UG brochures/posters created
- PSAT and SAT scores
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Industry
- Microsoft visit - long term relations with faculty
- Microsoft / Eserv / ACT
- Attempted to get to Seagate in summer 2000
- Discussed MS/MBA with other units
- Working with Torus Optical on turnkey telescope
- Letters to industry (mock resumes, etc.)
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Advising/Career Development
- First year advisor - 1 faculty member's assignment
- Brought advising center rep to faculty meeting
- Developed academic progress checklist
- Need to work on communicating with students on applied physics/UG research projects
- Biotech seems very interested in our students
- Round table discussions / exit interviews
- Career development checklist
- Job fair
- Career development seminars
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Alumni
- New Foundation Officer - Michael Kingan
- Second newsletter finished
- Alumni link on home page
- Alumni mentor program being developed
- Bob McGrath - Alumni Fellow nominee
- Started new scholarships
- Sun/Shen - Graduate student
- Wert - UGR travel research
- Swift - TBA
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General
- Sims' tour
- Mercury spill in August 2000 - $37K
- Preparation for new DEO
- Renovated commons room
- New PCs in computer lab/second computer lab developed
- Self-study completed
- Annual report completed
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Discussion Topics
Possible Discussion Topics
How can we do a better job of marketing applied physics degree? What can be done to improve student interest?
Advise as the Department prepares for transition to new DEO
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Student Involvement
- Strategies to increase communication with students
- Student involvement in research projects
- Improving student motivation
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Possible Discussion Topics
- Recruitment of graduate students remains a problem. Any new ideas would be helpful.
- Centrality of Physics
- How can we improve industrial relations?
- Strategies to change current culture
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Discussion Topics
- Are you satisfied with the Board?
- Is it meeting your expectations?
- Strategies to involve Board Members in departmental business
- Transition of Board - some members will go off the board this year
- Do we want to schedule a spring meeting?
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Open Forum for Students
Advisory Board Open Forum
Talk about your background and your current position.
What advice would you give to students?
Discuss the importance of internships.
What do employers look for in students?
How will a physics/astronomy degree help a student succeed? |
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