Professor Definition and 290 Threads

My Physics Professor from my Physics 1 class says Newtons laws are wrong? Don't get me wrong, but he is a amazing physics professor! One that does not talk to you as if you are dumb or as if he is better than anyone! I love physics and I'm hoping to go into physics engineering, but that's not...

Dear All, first of all I want to say thanks for this great forum!, which I am following since many years ago. I have never participated, but I have read almost everything for years hehe. But I currently have a personal issue, which I would not talk about with my colleagues and which is...

My group was the last one finishing the lab report for today's physics lab. The instructor asked why I didn't try more data point after I turned in the report. (The manual doesn't require a specific number of data point) I said I didn't really have enough time. He responded sarcastically, "Do...

How many years does a postdoc have to spent active in researches before he can attain a full position as a professor and has his own laboratory? Not too long ago I found a PhD thesis of my current group leader, it was written in 2000 or so and now (after 14 years) he has become a prof and has...

So I have decided on my first choice of school and program for my master's degree, (Medical Physics at University of Calgary if anyone is interested in knowing) and I am wondering how to go about emailing a professor. The program says you are not required to find a supervisor before applying...

Dear Physics Forum personnel, I am a college sophomore in US with major in mathematics and an aspiring algebraist. I wrote this email because I am having a great problem with my current Calculus III (vector calculus) course that I am taking for this Summer Semester. All of my fellow...

Hello, I would like to offer a gift to one of my professor who has been extraordinary nice to me this past year. He is a physicist in the field of Structural Biology. I am thinking of buying him a cool book/illustrated novel about history of science. The best that I have come up so far is...

I speak about my ideas quite openly, with many people as entreprenuership is one of my passions. (and hopefullly me and my friend will have started my start up shortly after this semesters finals). I speak about my research ideas that I have with my professor, but I am currently an...

I am in third year of University Physics, and I have been particularly interested in models of cognition for two years. I was studying and working as an assistant of an eminence in the area during the last 6 months, who, after seeing I was so interested (I was the only student interested), 'took...

I'm currently a first-year student at OSU, and I'm a physics major. My first semester I got 2 C's and an A(college was harder than I expected and I didn't study a lot). This semester I am doing much better in my classes, getting close to straight A's but I was talking to someone and they said...

Not really sure if this topic belongs here...but anyways, I am getting my physics degree soon and I want to get my favorite physics professor a gift before I go off to grad school. She wrote me a letter of rec and I took 5 classes with her, so she definitely deserves it. She practically does...

Let me begin by saying that this is probably not in the right forum, but I couldn't find a better place for it. One of the best professors in our physics department (and the newest) just lost his wife to cancer in November. He's currently my E&M II professor, and so I spend a lot of time in his...

Recently a number of threads have been squelched shortly after mention of Susskind's cutting edge physics with reference to mainstream-textbook-peer reviewed-physics. He is the leading proponent of String/M-Theory and of the Holographic Principle. True, he has not yet published a textbook per...

Our faculty got this in their e-mail today:

Hello, I am on exchange at a university where there are not a lot of students fighting for undergrad research positions, so I have pretty much any pick I want in what group I want to join, coupled with the fact that I go to a famous University makes professors to want to have me on their team...

I'm taking (undergraduate) Nuclear Physics this semester and while it's going well the kind of comments and attitude I'm getting from my professor confuse me. He dismissed Kenneth Krane's Nuclear Physics book when I told him I was studying from it. When talking about the Dirac equation and Pauli...

I'm an EE undergrad senior here, and I want to get some work in at a research lab here on campus. I have a solid GPA and decent relationship with professors, and now I want to do some work. I've been trolling the faculty profiles (reading their research interests) to decide who I might want to...

Homework Statement The force on a particle, acting along the x axis, varies as shown in the figure below. (a) Determine the work done by this force to move along the x-axis from x=0.0 to x = 10.0m and (b) from x=0.0 to x=15.0m and (c) what is the speed of the particle at each slope change and...

I love teaching and I am interested in physics & maths. I am not brilliant in academics but a good student. I want to teach at the college level so please let me khow the requirements to be a physics professor.

I am still working on my undergrad, but am fairly certain I want to get an upper level physics degree so that I can teach. How hard is it to get a good teaching job, and how can I best prepare. I am not shy of hard work, but I am nervous that after a decade of education I won't be able to get a...

Hi everyone, Next week I will be meeting one-on-one with a professor to discuss physics research, in hopes of getting involved in some capacity. I have never had this experience before and I am bit unsure of what I should expect, what I should prepare for, what I should bring etc. Despite my...

My professor today stated that if a ball was to fall a certain height, then the work done by Earth's gravity on the ball would equal the work done on the Earth by the ball's equal and opposite gravitational pull. W=F*d means that the Earth must travel the same distance as the ball. Upon someone...

So at the beginning of every lecture, my professor calls out our names one by one to take attendance because attendance/participation is 15% of our grade, even though there are over 150 registered students in this lecture hall.. :(

Hi people, This is the first time I am writing a letter to a professor about my enrollment into their MS program. i have already completed a draft with my cgpa, current thesis, research interest etc. Now do I write the whole detail in the body of the email or i make a doc file and attach it...

Hey PF. I was wondering if anyone could talk about become a Math Professor for me. My physics professors saying physics professorships are very competitive, is Math the same way?

I know having a letter of recommendation from a research advisor is great. However, the research advisor I am currently working with barely knows me. He will be my advisor for about 5 more weeks, but I do not see him suddenly becoming interested in my project (I'm working with the postdoc), or...

How accurate do you think are the assessments made by students on this website??I had nothing but good things to say about all my professors. When I started in community college last year I joined late and had to take the professors whose classes were available. I did not even bother to check...

I've always wanted to teach at the university level, so I was interested in working as a professor. However, I've recently been reading that professors are pressured to crank out publications every year. I am not so enthusiastic about this. I understand research is important, but my main passion...

hey all, I am currently studing logic and set theory. My professor solved this question in a way that seems quit strange to me- Hope you could be of help. I attached the question in image file so signs won't be lost

I really enjoy physics and chemistry and do OK in math (not stupendous, but OK at it and enjoy it) and have been pressured by my parents to choose a STEM major like computer science or engineering (the latter of which I have zero interest in). I'm a freshman right now and still have time...

Alright so I'm a sophomore student right now. I'm enrolled in what I feel like is a hard Astrophysics class. Myself having only taken calculus based physics I&II. I just made an 80 and a 50 on my homeworks. I don't know why I'm struggling so much. I was really good in physics I&II. I want to do...

Hi everyone, Has anyone ever e-mailed a professor from another school to try to do research for them over the summer? I'm a Masters student in physics and i do research in Astronomy. i want to go to certain schools for a PhD program. Say I wanted to go to UCLA, i feel like if i could work...

I have this professor who teaches literature who I find myself immensely attracted to. Now to put this into context, I'm 28. So its not as if there is a big age differential between us (I believe she is in her mid-30s). Anyways, I'm thinking of asking her out at the end of the semester, as she...

Hey guys, In a bit of a sticky situation here. So, there is a prof. who wants me to work with him over the summer and then into the future, the issue is, his area of research is NOT what I see myself doing or even interesting. My question is, how would you tell him that you would rather...

I have a professor who typically spends, on average, about a third of each lecture pontificating about his personal life or university politics. I respect his knowledge and he's overall a very helpful educator, but I get very irritated when I think about how much we're not covering during his...

First of all, let me just say I'm a long way away from being a wife/mom and from even thinking about having a career. I'm still an undergrad. Although I love physics and want to pursue a PhD and eventually begin a career, I guess that being a mother is more important to me. And now that it's...

Is my professor v. fast, or is it normal in colleges?? My 2nd semester of my college degree has just started. My maths course has ODE PDE Linear Algebra Eigenvalues and Eigen-vectors Fourier Series Laplace Transforms Complex Variables So far I bought, GF Simmons(textbook) for...

Russell Johnson, the Professor on 'Gilligan's Island,' Died today at 89 http://tv.yahoo.com/blogs/tv-news/russell-johnson--the-professor-on--gilligan-s-island--is-dead-at-89-205226838.html I enjoyed his character on Gilligan's Island. I could relate to him.

I am a college student who is thinking of getting my Masters and PhD in Math. I was considering becoming a Professor one day (I just started college so I'm going to spending 5 years Undergrad, 2 years Masters and 4-6 PhD), so I was wondering what you think the probability is of becoming a Math...

Homework Statement Suppose that two elastic balls moving through three dimensional space collide and rebound, conserving both kinetic energy and momentum. The balls cast shadows, and these shadows moving over a flat two-dimensional surface come together, collide and rebound. Now pretend the...

Do you base it on difficulty of the class or a percentage of the actual class cost? Typically I do 15% of the course registration fee, but I would like to know what's the acceptable standard. edit: here's a useful link: http://www.indiana.edu/~kruschke/lab/tipping.html Provides...

Does anyone have any advice for talking to your professor change your grade from an F to a passing grade? First, I don't feel entitled that the professor should change my grade, but it would be nice to try. It was my second time taking this electric engineering course and my only failed...

Hi, I have recently completed my undergraduate degree in Physics. While I have thoroughly enjoyed my last year, I feel like I am in quite a dilemma when approaching professors for graduate school. I have spent the final year doing research in theoretical particle physics, however my formal...

I am in my final year of graduate studies. I have a very difficult class. I am working at it, but I feel that I do not have the support I need to succeed. The professor is available for office hours directly after class, twice a week. Other than this, he does not answer email except on...

I checked my prof on ratemyprof and he apparently teaches at 4 different campuses: 3 campuses for one university and at another campus for another university. How does that work?

So I took an elective in environmental science and the professor puts stupid trivia questions on her tests/quizzes to prevent people from getting 100 on her course. For example from one of her online quizzes: she asks what percentage of air pollution is caused by motor vehicles. Or another...

One of my primary motivations for moving to teaching is that my summers would be "open". One of my goals would be to spend my summer months either in inner city or overseas areas teaching underprivileged students. I really don't want to teach high due to politics and the terrible education...

Hello, I've come to the point where I realize: I'm supposed to teach. I've tutored for years, taught small groups, etc. Also, I want the summer to pursue my other interests. I don't want to do research or anything; just teach. I was just curious as to how competitive these jobs are...

I'm in class watching my professor teaching us about convolution. However, he keeps doing this by creating graphs and stuff. Is there a method through which I can solve convolution problems without having to draw the graphs?

Well My calculus 3 teacher is well known for saying, "I Was not prepeared for this.." Evry single lessons.. When he show some proof he see that he makes misstake and use that as excuse.. And Also sometimes in exemple.. Then he says "You can read this exemple in book.." And I Dont even got same...