CHM 4905 and 4910 or PHY 4905 and 4910 – Fall 2009

Individual and Senior Research

Requirements for letter credit

This course provides a guided curriculum for Junior and Senior students, learning a subject, doing related research, and completing a term project that can lead to a Senior Research Thesis. The requirements are:

a) Meeting with, or contacting, once a week the Instructor to describe progress

b) Reading related literature as requested

c) Doing weekly research in the laboratory

d) Writing a monthly report due at the end of each month, with a length of three double spaced pages, including references, and with attachments showing results.

e) Completing a research project in the Senior Year

Projects involve mathematical and computational modeling of properties of molecules and materials. Recent projects have dealt with optical properties of nanostructured semiconductor surfaces useful in the capture and conversion of visible light, for generation of photovoltaic currents. They require studying the theory, studying related experimental work, doing computer calculations on a series of systems, and comparing with experiments when possible.

Students write publishable papers, and make presentations at national and international conferences. Funds are available to cover related tuition costs and travel to conferences. Students who in addition dedicate time to computational work in the laboratory can be supported as Student Assistants.