Recent content by chill_factor

Thank you for the help. I have a meeting with him next week. Do I simply tell him at the meeting that I want out and then start searching or do I start searching then just tell him at the meeting? I just don't get why things would turn out like this. I've been trying my best to be productive...

I am seriously considering switching research groups. To be brief: I am a graduate student in condensed matter physics who had just passed the PHD candidate qualification exam. I have been working in my current lab for a year. I am unsatisfied with my working conditions in terms of interactions...

Thanks guys. I tried the turn off, drain capacitor procedure, didn't work. I had a colleague help me with it and it turns out the power source was broken, so a new one is being brought in.

I have a situation. One of the computers I work with (desktop, early 2000's gateway) doesn't turn on anymore. The last time it was working was 3 hours prior to when I began working with it. The power button was flashing, showing hibernation. The screen was off. I moved the mouse and nothing...

I am interested in ultrafast optical spectroscopy of solid state materials. The unique measurements and especially the process of developing new measurement tools for the optical measurement of quantities that are hard to measure in other ways, and the learning of transferrable skills, make this...

Publishing is one measure of reward, and another is learning broadly applicable skills in programming and electronics. Mostly, my goal is to work as upstream as possible. I don't want to be just a tool user, I want to be a tool maker or at least learn about tool making. This may be unrealistic...

try to take a math class in physics or electrical engineering, rather than an actual math class. you need arithmetic - using known mathematical principles to calculate quantities. you don't need new math.

I have 2 projects I'm considering. One is a very high risk project that I would be taking nearly full ownership over, where I would be building a new measurement instrument for characterization of a very hard to measure property in semiconductors. Cons: will probably be heavily managed by...

Business, finance, law. I have no idea why you think physics or engineering will help you get a startup running when a startup needs people who can navigate the financial and legal process.

1. Fermi-Dirac distribution 2. Know what the Schrödinger equation is 3. Know how to solve it for a particle in a 1-D well.

Study the MS in astrophysics. You like it, so why not do it? If you study condensed matter, there is no time to seriously study astro once your thesis starts coming around. However, try to think about whether it is a *hobby* in astro you want, or a *career* in astro you want. Remember that you...

Depends on what you want to do. In terms of coursework, the quantum and the thermodynamics should not be a problem. What would be major problems are EM and classical mechanics, especially classical mechanics, since it trains you to think in a way that you are not familiar with. Of course, EM...

Solid State Physics is very worth it. It was my favorite class next to statistical mechanics; it is a class which is not about math and number crunching, but more about learning how to think about solids, much like statistical mechanics is a class about learning how to think about large systems...

Business, finance, law, etc. will be good choices. The technology side of prolonging human life is challenging, but so is the business and legal side.

if you want to do biology, try doing something that can be related to finance or data analysis, such as systems biology. I'm no expert in this field though.