ENERGY & SOCIETY Honors Seminar, Fall 2009


About the Course and the Instructor

Professor Sunil Somalwar will be in charge of the class, to be held on MW from 1:40pm to 3:00pm in Hill 009. This class (01:090:255:01) is a seminar class.

My whereabouts are as follows. Office: Serin W312 on Busch, Phone:732-445-5500 x0745, Fax:732-445-4343, E-mail: somalwar@physics.rutgers.edu

I follow an open door policy so you need not make an appointment to see me. Feel free to walk in or call or email etc if you need help. You can also make an appointment if you prefer. I am not planning on having a formal office hour, but let me know if you want one.

When I am not teaching, I do research in experimental particle physics (aka "atom smashing"). So far, my research used to be at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) near Chicago, but the high energy research frontier has now pretty much shifted to the CERN laboratory in Geneva on the Swiss-French border. I am also a volunteer environmental activist. Feel free to talk to me about these activities outside the class.

Textbook and References

There is no formal textbook for the class. If you have a long term interest in the subject, you may want to buy the suggested text by Richard Wolfson (Energy, Environment and Climate). I have a bunch of books on the subject and I will be happy to lend them to you for your project etc.

Course Philosophy and Feedback

We will learn some physics ("Energy") in this class, but focus predominantly on the public policy ("Society") since global warming appears to be unfolding rapidly while Washington DC twiddles its thumbs. We will work out the details of how to proceed in this class together as we go along. This flexibility is one reason why hearing from you on a continual basis is extremely important. Your feedback (positive and negative) will allow for a better tuning of the course. Talk to me before/after class, in office, etc etc.

Evaluation and Grades

I hope this will be a fun seminar class, but we do have to deal with the necessary evil of grades. Your grade will be based for the most part on class participation (which includes attendance) and the following: You will do a very short news article presenation (no slides), a short presentation called "Explain a Concept" and the main project presentation. See the Class Plan for details. Try to capitalize on your strengths and make these activities fun for you. (A student made up a Jeopardy game on energy policy last year.) There should be plenty of flexibility, so if you want to learn a specific skill, tell me so and we will work on it.

I will give a short and informal quiz towards the end of the class to make sure that you were paying attention and picked up the basics. I tend to be liberal with grades in a class like this, but no A's for those who didn't get the basics. (I will tell you what the "basics" are as we go along.)

World Wide Web

The URL for our home page is http://www.physics.rutgers.edu/~somalwar/honsem
or from Physics website, http://www.physics.rutgers.edu/ugrad/honsem/
We will make substantial use of internet resources and I expect to spend a significant fraction of every class discussing the latest developments. You will use the web to gather information for your presentations, so please educate yourself on the difference between real information and opinions (or just wrong information). This class should help you develop a critical eye.

Class Plan / Schedule

The schedule of your presentations etc is on the class website. It will change frequently, so you should check it frequently to avoid any confusion.

Students with Disabilities

If you have a disability, you are urged to speak to me early in the semester to make the necessary arrangements to support a successful learning experience. Also, you must arrange the necessary guidance for me from the Disabilities Coordinator. A list of the College Coordinators can be found at the physics disabilities page
To Class Home Page
This page is maintained by Sunil Somalwar.