How do migration crises shape liberal democracy and international cooperation? What becomes politically possible when "migration crises" turn into a constant backdrop to national politics and international relations? How do mass migration episodes impact countries of origin, transit, and destination? During crises, governments ask much more of their citizens. Internationally, crises enable decision-makers to rethink and alter established norms, practices, and structures for cooperation.

This course provides an introduction to the field of International Relations (IR). It examines key debates in IR, such as the origins and consequences of wars, the influence of organizations like the UN, the IMF, and the WHO, and international cooperation on global challenges like climate change. Students will evaluate the evidence supporting these debates. They will do so by focusing on the political origins of data and how such origins shape critical patterns in the data.

Individual, independent work on some problem, usually in experimental physics. Reading, consultation and seminars, and laboratory work. Designed for honors candidates, but open to other advanced students with the consent of the department.

2024-2025 Fall semester. The Department.

How to handle overenrollment: null

Students who enroll in this course will likely encounter and be expected to engage in the following intellectual skills, modes of learning, and assessment: Emphasis on independent research and writing.

A development of Maxwell’s electromagnetic field equations and some of their consequences using vector calculus. Topics covered include: electrostatics, steady currents and static magnetic fields, time-dependent electric and magnetic fields, and the complete Maxwell theory, energy in the electromagnetic field, Poynting’s theorem, electromagnetic waves, and radiation from time-dependent charge and current distributions. Three class hours per week.

Requisite: PHYS 117/124, PHYS 125, MATH 211 or consent of the instructor. Fall semester: Visiting Professor Foster.

This course begins with the foundation of classical mechanics as formulated in Newton’s Laws of Motion. We then use Hamilton’s Principle of Least Action to arrive at an alternative formulation of mechanics in which the equations of motion are derived from energies rather than forces. This Lagrangian formulation has many virtues, among them a deeper insight into the connection between symmetries and conservation laws.

In this course, we will apply physics to biological systems to understand how physical properties govern life. The focus will be on studying the diffusion, folding, dynamics, and force generation of biological molecules. Additional topics may include biased random walks, chemotaxis, molecular motors, ion channels, membrane dynamics, microscopy, polymer physics, bioenergetics, photosynthesis, and rheology. Three classroom hours and three hours of laboratory work per week.

In this course, we will apply physics to biological systems to understand how physical properties govern life. The focus will be on studying the diffusion, folding, dynamics, and force generation of biological molecules. Additional topics may include biased random walks, chemotaxis, molecular motors, ion channels, membrane dynamics, microscopy, polymer physics, bioenergetics, photosynthesis, and rheology. Three classroom hours and three hours of laboratory work per week.

The theories of relativity (special and general) and the quantum theory constituted the revolutionary transformation of physics in the early twentieth century. Certain crucial experiments precipitated crises in our classical understanding to which these theories offered responses; in other instances, the theories implied strange and/or counterintuitive phenomena that were then investigated by crucial experiments.

Phenomena that repeat over regular intervals of time and space play a fundamental role in physics and its applications. This course explores oscillations and waves in contexts from a simple mass on a spring to mechanical waves in solids, liquids, and gasses as well as electromagnetic waves. It emphasizes broadly applicable phenomena including superposition, boundary effects, interference, diffraction, coherence, normal modes, and the decomposition of arbitrary wave amplitudes into normal modes, as with Fourier analysis.

Phenomena that repeat over regular intervals of time and space play a fundamental role in physics and its applications. This course explores oscillations and waves in contexts from a simple mass on a spring to mechanical waves in solids, liquids, and gasses as well as electromagnetic waves. It emphasizes broadly applicable phenomena including superposition, boundary effects, interference, diffraction, coherence, normal modes, and the decomposition of arbitrary wave amplitudes into normal modes, as with Fourier analysis.