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 2012
Digital Holography and Applications in Microscopic Interferometry, Cody Jenkins
Estimates of the density contrast at Earth’s inner-core boundary beneath central Mexico, Wade Kelley
The Double Pendulum: Construction and Exploration, Benjamin J. Knudson
Investigation of Optical Dipole Traps for Trapping Neutral Atoms for Quantum Computing, Danielle May
Aspects of General Relativity in 1+1 Dimensions, Richard D. Mellinger Jr
Building an Alpha Spectrometer for the CUORE Collaboration, David J. Miller
Multipolymer Interactions in Bulk Heterojunction Photovoltaic Devices, Grant Olson
The Search for Charged Massive Supersymmetric Particles at the LHC, Aleksey Pavlov
Studying Beam Dynamics at CesrTA, Matthew (Matt) Randazzo
Orbital Velocities in the Broad Line Region of Seyfert 1 Galaxies, Rebecca Renee Rosen
Analysis of Focal-Plane Measurements for VERITAS Telescopes, William Hemmo Schuur
Senior Projects from 2011
Analysis of the 2008 Flare of Markarian 421 Flare with VERITAS, Casey Allard
Astronomical Spectroscopy at the Cal Poly Observatory, Christopher James Almich
Morphology Changes in PCPDTBT:PCBM and P3HT:PCPDTBT:PCBM and its Effect on Polymer Solar Cell Performance, Galen David Cauble
Quantum Mechanics, Quantum Computation, and the Density Operator in SymPy, Addison Cugini
Symbolic Quantum Circuit Simplification in SymPy, Matthew Curry
Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy, Connor Drake
Saturated Absorption for a Magneto-Optical Atom Trap as a Step toward Atomic Dipole Traps in a Diffraction Pattern from a Circular Aperture, Andrew Ferdinand
Submerged Pressure Differential Wave Energy Converter, Christopher F. Ferguson
Python Modeling of Heat Flow in a Thermal Storage Device, Tim Hider
Projection of Diffracted Optical Atom Traps, Jeremy Kruger
A Modular Design for Nuclear Battery Technology, Randy Lao
Projected Pinhole Diffraction, David Moore
Paleomagnetism and Investigation of 40 Ma Lavas, Liverpool Range, New South Whales, Australia, Nathan M. Padilla