Foundations and Frontiers of Physics

Fall 2026 and Spring 2027

An informal seminar for first year graduate students.
Wednesdays, 5:00pm PSC 2136

Course Description

The Foundations and Frontiers of Physics Seminar is a required non-credit seminar for the first-year graduate students. However, all graduate students are invited to attend. The main purpose of this seminar course is to attempt to convey the sort of "feel" for physics that is ordinarily not communicated in course work, seminars or even colloquia. This includes elementary arguments, analogies and "back-of-the-envelope calculations". The seminars will be presented by various faculty members and other researchers associated with the department. We hope that the course will promote collegiality among the students and faculty, enhance the human side of graduate training in physics, and help students to become familiar with the research going on in the department.

The seminars will start at 5:00 pm every other Wednesday, more or less, according to the schedule below. There may be additional time for further discussion after the seminars.

Course Requirement

Course requirement: attendance to 11 out of the 13 scheduled seminars over the Fall and the Spring seminars. You will have to complete the course the following year if you do not fulfill this. (Attendance will be recorded.)

Organizers

Prof. Alberto Belloni	PSC 3208F	56058
Prof Drew Baden	PSC 3208D	56069

Guidelines for Speakers

• The total duration of the presentation should be about 60 minutes long
• We encourage you to combine your presentation with a senior graduate student in your field who can give a sense of what it is like to be a student in the field.
• We suggest that the student (if available) present during the last 15 minutes of the 60 minute period and potentially after you have taken off.
• The student could answer questions such as: what his/her work as a graduate student entails, how the student learned the necessary skills, anecdotes about enjoyable and frustrating experiences in their research.
• Your talk should be much more informal than the departmental colloquia and group research seminars.
• The ideal that we are aiming for is something like the talk you would give to a first year grad student visiting your office to find out about the physics of your research area. This means a heavy emphasis on the blackboard and lots of interaction with the students, and little or no use of traditional presentation aids such as PowerPoint, which tend to put a barrier between the students and the speaker. This kind of talk will require less preparation in the conventional sense (no preparation of viewgraphs), but a lot of thought as to how to best convey the basic concepts and a feel for doing research in your field.
• Begin by speaking for 10-15 minutes about the "human side" of your work. For instance, you might talk about your experiences as a graduate student, how you came to be involved in the field of your research, and/or experiences that were important to you in your development as a physicist. Please don't ignore this part. It is an important aspect of the perspective we are trying to offer the students.
• Assume no background beyond an undergraduate education in physics. The audience consists almost entirely of the first year graduate students.
• Concentrate on the fundamentals of your topic, at a truly introductory level. Attempt to give a "feel for the physics" with the use of elementary arguments, analogies, and back-of-the envelope calculations. Discuss the kind of order-of-magnitude estimates that are relevant to research in your field.
• Try to convey the flavor of current research in your topic. However, please do not consider your own research as the primary focus of the seminar.
• Encourage questions.
• Please plan to stay if possible after your talk so that further, informal, discussion can take place.