The official learning outcomes, as listed on the course catalogue, are:
- After the course, the student is able to acquaint her/himself with the application of an experimental technique and can quantitatively argue the suitability of this technique to a given physical problem.
- After the course, the student has a basic knowledge of data analysis/presentation techniques relevant to a given field of research. The student can implement these techniques using a programming language and libraries relevant to that field.
- After the course, the student knows how to collect, manage and interpret data in types/formats relevant to their specific field of research.
- After the course, the student can discuss, describe and interpret data, both verbally and in the form of a short report.
- After the course, students can collaborate in a team to design and carry out a short experimental project.
These capabilities are noble and necessary for a distinguished master of Experimental Physics. The central goal behind these outcomes, however, is to empower you to take a leading role in tackling grand scientific and technological challenges. For this purpose, a major part of the course focuses on leadership skills, group dynamics, and principles of working in open teams.
To get closer to achieving this central goal in, next to technical discussions, exercises, and seminars, you will also
- Learn the principles and vocabularies of:
- Openness
- Open Leadership
- Community interactions
- Value exchanges
- Engagement
- Diversity
- Inclusion
- Accessibility
- Safety
- Culture change
- Learn how to apply those principles to open leadership and working open in your groups.
- Learn how to collect, invite, and tell stories that demonstrate how solving the chosen problems benefits the communities you belong to.
This syllabus is a "living" document. The course coordinators are open to suggestions regarding changes to this document or the workflow. Bring this up in a cohort meeting, bring it up on Teams, or contact a course coordinator
Due to pandemic restrictions, in-person gatherings for UED2020 are only held on Mondays. The online cohort meetings will be on Thursdays. Meetings with experts and mentors can be arranged also on other days. The study/work-load is expected to be about 20 hours per week.
This schedule is set based on the coordinators' experience with execution of an experimental project and the feedback from the students of last year. There is no unique path to achieving the course goals and we will adjust the schedule as necessary during our cohort meetings.
During this week, we will have only one online meeting on Thursday at 9:30 - 12:00. All participants will introduce themselves and the coordinators will discuss the goals of the course with you, and explain the suggested path to successfully achieve the learning outcomes. The structure of the working hours and cohort meetings will be presented. Also the required means of communication will be presented and tested.
We will also have one online lecture in the second hour.
- Dries van Oosten: Laser interferometry and its applications
During the Thursday online meeting we will discuss:
- The course goals and the schedule
- 2-min introduction of all students and their interests (if possible think of this before the meeting.)
- Communication tools necessary for this course and self-study material
- Deciding on a name for this cohort
- Think of a name to suggest for this cohort.
- Activate your account on the Science Faculty Gitlab server.
- Make sure you have access to the UED2020 repository. Fork it to your account and clone it on your PC.
- Set up your project folder structure.
- Fill in your personal goals form and send it to Sanli and Jasper (use the chat function on MS Teams).
- Share your chosen mentor priorities with the course coordinators.
- Getting your project online, although this guide is geared towards GitHub users, much of it can be applied to the way we organise the UED2020 repository, together.
- Nobel prize lecture of Weiss
- Technical details of VIRGO
- Lecture slides on laser interferometry bij Dries van Oosten
You will also form teams, choose a project, and express your preference for a mentor that will give you feedback on your progress with the project and connect you to experts when needed. There are no mentor meetings planned this week. When a mentor has accepted this role for your project, you will be informed by the coordinator. You should then reach out to your mentor to confirm when and where you'll be meeting.
- We will hear about the advent of scanning probe methods from Ingmar Swart (Monday 13:00 - 15:00).
- it will be useful to take a look at the Nobel lecture of Gerd Binnig.
- Sanli Faez: On the discovery of superconductivity and Who created the Science factory?
- On Thursday, September 10th, Aron Opheij will teach us how to interface electronic devices using Python
During the Monday meeting we will discuss:
- principles for choosing a research topic and discuss the speech of George Whitesides
- history and current state of the Safecast
- formation of the teams for the experiments
- the cohort grand project
During the Thursday online meeting we will discuss:
- How each project contributes to the cohort grand project
- Decide collectively on our code of conduct
- Value exchanges, community interactions in project groups
- Listen to a lecture on interfacing devices using Python
Before the Thursday online meeting:
- Make sure you have a working python installation: I understand most of you are familiar with Anaconda + Spyder, which would be fine: https://www.anaconda.com/products/individual#download-section
- Create a github account: https://github.com/
- Install Git: https://git-scm.com/downloads
- To test if your pc is prepared, open an anaconda prompt and install the labphew package: 'pip install labphew' After that type 'labphew start blink -d' If a window shows everything is good. If you run into issues you could contact Aron Opheij on Teams
- Ingmar's lecture slides
- Python interfacing slides
- about George Whitesides
- labphew
- Value exchange taxonomy
- Ingmar's notes on Vibration Isolation
- Ingmar's notes on Electronics
This week you will meet your mentor for the first time. These 30-minute meetings will happen every week at the moments that you and your mentor agree. During this week, you will put together the elements of your experiment and try to make some (any) measurements
- we will hear about the Bose-Einstein condensation experiment in the International Space Station, from Peter van der Straten
- Peter's lecture will be based on selected parts from the Nobel prize lecture of Phillips Monday
- we will hear about setting up a reproducible project structure by Barbara Vreede
- lecture slides -> Thursday 11-12
- we will understand the development of electron microscopy by Gerhard Blab.
- based on TEM chapter -> Thursday 10-11
In the first meeting with your mentor, introduce yourselves and then:
- Review your personal goals
- Review your project description
- Set 1-2 personal goals in your team for your project.
- Create your project canvas
Document your project goals in a copy of project goals template and include your time plan; you will return to these goals weekly to assess your progress.
Use a copy of the mentor meetings template or similar format and save your notes in your project directory.
- Make a list of necessary equipment for your project and discuss the list with the course coordinator.
- Assess the load of your project on the grand project available resources.
- Complete your project canvas.
- Update your flow chart based on feedback you received from your mentor and classmates, along with a time plan.
- Update your project canvas and ask the course coordinators to comment on it.
- Update the criteria for evaluating your project outcome.
During the online cohort meeting, your peers will play devil's advocates about the experiment you have chosen and you have to defend why it will work.
- Think of convincing reasons why your experiment is worth doing and what are possible pitfalls.
- When you are convinced about your experiment, take the first few steps to take measurements.
- Gerd Binnig Nobel lecture
- Nobel prize lecture of Phillips
- Peter's lecture slides
- Good coding practices
- Electron microscopy slides
- Reproducible Code Lecture Slides
During this week, you work towards getting the first signal related to your project goals.
Before the start of this Monday's meeting, you have to met your deadlines up to the point "made project canvas, goals, and self-evaluation criteria ready for discussion". (Please update your issues!)
- Allard Mosk will tell us how to best extract signal from noise
- we will play a quiz game on lectures of the past 4 weeks.
- tbc: We will have a tour of the mechanical workshop
During this week, each team will meet with the course coordinators to discuss their progress.
- Make yourself familiar with the taxonomy of open value exchanges
- Prepare some quiz questions based on the scientific lectures (Ingmar, Dries, Peter, Allard, Gerhard) of the past 3 weeks. We will make teams and you will quiz each other.
- Revise your project goals (under mid-course review) based on your first signal.
- In your personal goals file, list your contacts, check the current state of your value exchanges, and write down your ideal state.
During this week, you write the necessary code for analysing your measured data and recovering the errors in an efficient way. Try to test your analysis methods on benchmark measurements and identify the sources of noise and error in your experiment.
Make a plan, together with your mentor, for fixing the glitches in the measurement setup, your understanding of your experiment and the physics of it. Execute the plan and explain what you have learned so far to your peers.
- we will learn hear about the role photovoltaics in the energy transition from Wilfried van Sark (Thursday 9:30).
- Make a first-signal milestone celebration art-piece
- discuss your revised project goals with your mentor and the course coordinator
- Identify sources of noise and error in your experiment and write a summary
- Fill in the plan for improving the accuracy of your measurements and identify the required equipment
- Update your personal goals (under mid-course review)
- Write a report (maximum 500 words excluding figures and equations) on the context and theory of your experiment. This report is due before the Monday class on Week 6 (05-10-2020). Comment under your progress issue that your report is ready and @ Sanli and Jasper.
During this week, you will beta-test and your project and make it safe to use, as much as possible. You will write a users' instructions for the setup, how to reproduce your results, and how to progress further from where you are with this project.
You will explain your project to another group before the cohort meeting. During the meeting, that group will then have to explain your project to the rest of the cohort.
Before the start of this Monday's meeting, you have to met your deadlines up to the point "committed report on context and theory". (Please update your issues!)
- Explain your project to another group.
- Prepare a detailed set of instructions so that another team can perform your experiment and get results without your help. Use the reproducibility feedback as a guide.
During this week, you will share your setup, work instructions, and results with your peers and ask them to reproduce your results. You will do the same for some other project and report on the reproducibility of those results and the qualities of the work instructions.
Before the start of this Monday's meeting, you have to met your deadlines up to the point "committed instructions and pull request to the UED2020". (Please update your issues!)
Fill in the reproducibility feedback for the project assigned to you and discuss it with the group owner.
Write down your response to feedback from your peers and share it with your reviewers.
During this week, you will implement the feedback you have received from your mentor and other cohort members and start working on the poster for presenting your results. Discuss you poster design with your mentor.
During the cohort meeting on Monday, you will hear a presentation about story-telling and its important for presenting your results.
In week 8 you will make the poster for presenting your experiment on Thursday, November 7th.
During the cohort meeting, you will advertise your results to the rest of the class with a 1-minute pitch.
- Make an attractive advertisement about your project and its results.
- Fill in the evaluation form for the course (cohort meeting)
- Fill in your plans for project maintenance
During this week we will put all the necessary parts for the grand project together and test it.
During this week you will present your project results in a public event on Thursday 5th of November.
In the cohort meeting of this week, we will together discuss the learning track of the whole course and how to proceed with maintaining your projects.
Before the start of this Monday's meeting, you have to met your deadlines up to the point "created poster draft, presentation goals, and project advertisement". (Please update your issues!)
- Fill in the self-evaluation for the outcome of your project.
- Update your end-of-course evaluation of your personal goals form
- Share your self-evaluation with your support network
There are currently no questions in this section.