Physics instruction at Cal Poly is conducted in a variety of formats by skilled professionals who focus on building an inclusive and welcoming learning community so that all students achieve proficiency. Learn by Doing is a guiding principle that permeates the physics curriculum. A major emphasis on laboratory investigations, especially at the upper division, complements students' theoretical and computational grounding. At the lower division level, several sections of courses are taught in a studio environment using materials developed on the basis of research on the learning and teaching of physics.
Modified from physics.calpoly.edu
Senior Projects from 2020
Corrosion Prevention, Matthew Walker
Temperature and Salinity Distributions and Flushing Time Estimates in a Low-Inflow California Estuary, Sydney N. Wewerka
Variability of Active Galactic Nuclei From Differential Photometry, Nicholas Steven Yee
Senior Projects from 2019
Investigating the Talbot Effect in Arrays of Optical Dipole Traps for Neutral Atom Quantum Computing, Sergio Aguayo
Lasers, Noah B. Caro
Development of the T0+ Detector for ALICE, Austin E. Guard
Daily and seasonal variability of offshore wind power on the Central California Coast and statewide demand, Matthew Douglas Kehrli
An Introduction to Shape Dynamics, Patrick R. Kerrigan
Optimization of an Injection Locked Laser System for Cold Neutral Atom Traps, Elliot M. Lehman
Finding and Analyzing U235 and U238 Ternary Fission Events in the NIFFTE FissionTPC, Gabriel A. Oman
Brightest Cluster Galaxy Evolution Exploration: Comparing the Separation of Cluster X-ray Light and Visible Wavelength Galaxy Light with Spectral Data, Matthew Aaron Salinas
An Investigation of the Anomalous Thrust Capabilities of the Electromagnetic Drive, Hannah J. Simons
Differential Photometry of Active Galactic Nuclei using Time Resolved Observations with the 1m Nickel Telescope of Lick Observatory, Chance L. Spencer
Proof of Concept and Experimental Design for Remote Laser Evaporative Molecular Absorption Spectroscopy Sensor System (R-LEMA), Amber Jessica Sucich
Microcontroller Differential GPS to Subtract Signal Delay Due to Ambient Free Electrons in the Ionosphere, Diana Jane Swanson
Senior Projects from 2018
Simulating the Electrical Properties of Random Carbon Nanotube Networks Using a Simple Model Based on Percolation Theory, Roberto Abril Valenzuela
Assembling and Characterizing the Efficiency of an Injection Locked Laser System for Cold Neutral Atom Optical Traps, Alexandra Papa Crawford
Studying the potential of the [OII] emission line as a surrogate for stellar velocity dispersion in Active Galactic Nuclei, Edward F. Donohue
Pseudo Power Law Statistics in a Jammed, Amorphous Solid, Jacob Brian Hass
Cuoricino Thermal Pulse Classification by Machine Learning Algorithms, Joshua Mann
Mountaintop Neutrino Detection: A nu(tau) concept, Caroline E. Paciaroni
Rental Property Energy Efficiency in San Luis Obispo, Zachary Earl Shockley
Heavy Flavour in Jets and Azimuthal Correlations, Patrick J. Steffanic
Senior Projects from 2017
My Contributions to the Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events Experiment and the Utilization of Geant4 in their Analysis, Kevin Armenta
Investigation of Peltier Devices for Refrigeration, Evan C. Drake