⚛ We are heading down the home stretch now! By now your offline analysis should be nearing completion, and you should have (nearly) finished all your data taking. Monica and I will keep a watchful eye on your analysis and tentative conclusions as you develop them.

⚛ A highly polished, collaboratively written, and excruciatingly thoroughly proofread draft of your paper is due in class on November 30. Please come with two paper copies for us. Please also have a nearly-final version of a cover letter to accompany the paper if the final version proves suitable for wide dissemination. Monica and I will read them and get back to you after the weekend.

⚛ Your final versions, as well as your PowerPoint presentations to the class, will be due on December 7th.

Weeks 5 - 10

Most groups have been making good progress: your breadboard circuits are working, most PCBs are fully functional, and most everyone has enough test run data to permit initial tests of your offline analysis.

You should be discussing the contents of your paper with other member of your group and beginning to generate abs outline of what you will present.

Week 4

We continued assembling our breadboarded circuits. Almost all groups are entirely finished with their breadboards, and beginning to think about DAQ software. You should also be considering how you will analyze your data offline.

Please have a good start on a DAQ by the time we begin class on Friday of next week. We are making the transition from building devices to preparing for dry-run field measurements.

Monica and I would like you to have finished all of your measurements and drawn tentative conclusions by early November so you'll have enough time to do a good job documenting your findings.

Week 3

Celia Elliott, who teaches Physics 496 (Introduction to Physics Research), spoke to the class about "How to Give a Physics Talk." Her slides are linked to the Course documents web page.

We continued assembling our breadboarded circuits. Our goal is to have them nearly finished before class next Friday.

We heard three more brief reports on devices and technology; see the Course documents web page.

Other class matters: Monica and I require you to keep, and UPLOAD, an electronic diary documenting your labors. You MUST do this every week.

Week 2

Professor Eric Benson, from Art & Design, spoke to us about design issues. Points he made: there's a sort of "inverted pyramid" organization to a design project. At first the designer will pursue a large number of possible directions to take her/his project. Over time, the designer will refine his/her thinking, and the project will narrow as options are eliminated. Benson stressed the importance of ergonomic considerations in design. I will ask him to share URLs for the useful design sites he mentioned.

By the end of class, nearly everyone had an Arduino talking to at least one sensor breakout board. And at least one person in each group had accomplished this, and was in a position to share his/her knowledge with everyone else in the group.

We heard the first three brief reports on devices and technology; I have posted the presentations to the Course documents web page.

Week 1

Welcome to Physics 398DLP! We're off to a good start: you now have nearly everything in hand that you'll need to build the data loggers for your projects.

You should be working on the week's post-class assignment, listed on the syllabus page.

Please see the "Breadboarding guide" in the Code & design resources repository for tips on how to work with your breadboard.