Professor Definition and 290 Threads

I'm looking to get one of my professors a book/gift as a thank you, as he's helped me a lot with my undergraduate studies over the past two years. I was thinking about getting him an interesting book, so I was wondering if anyone knew of some good ones (preferably physics/science related). He...

I'm sorry if this is a completely inappropriate place to post this in, but I know a number of people in this forum work or have worked in academia, and I was hoping that I might be able to get some advice. Also, since it is a physics professor specifically I'm having an issue with, I think it...

I'm a second year Comp E student, and in an intro class we're learning 8085 assembler. The professor wrote his own simulator for the class, but it's kinda buggy and I feel like it's been given minimal updates since he wrote it some 15 years ago. I was looking for a programming project, so I...

Howdy! I'm looking for some opinions from you guys on what I should do with some troubles I am having in my chemistry class. The school I am attending has a very small, but good Physics program. The professors are top-notch and teach because they love teaching. I am choosing not to pursue...

So I've got this homework problem that I think I've found a counter-example to, so either my counter-example is wrong or the professor is, here is the problem: Let (X,d) be a metric space and let E be a nonempty subset of X. For each x ∈ X, let d(x,E) = inf{d(x,y) : y ∈ E, with y≠x}. Show...

Suppose you know E[X] = 0 for a given (continuous) random variable. Does that mean E[|X|] < \infty? This is what my professor told me today, though it doesn't really make much sense...

Hey everyone. I see people give a lot of great advice in this forum, so I'd like to get everyone's input. I have a B.S. in Physics and I'm getting ready to start a graduate program in Meteorology to work on my Ph.d. I really would like to be a professor in the future. Now, I know that jobs in...

Some of my lecturers are Doctors and some are Professors - so one lecturer might be called Dr. Jack Johnson and another might be Prof. John Jackson ... I have a few questions related to this: What must someone do to earn title of Professor? Is Professor better than Doctor? Do Professors...

It's a long way off for me, being a senior in HS, but I'm thinking about what career I want to aim for in college and after. I'm considering becoming a professor, but, from what I've heard from my high school teachers, teachers have little free time. Beyond the normal 8 to 4, how much time does...

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/09/college-professor-allegedly-led-motorcyle-gang-drug-ring.html?track=lat-pick" Peng, I am sure your devious penguin brain will have something to say about this... was Cal State where you used to teach ? Did you know or have you heard of this guy...

Hi everybody. I have a question regarding an example problem at about 22min on this lecture http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/mathematics/18-03-differential-equations-spring-2010/video-lectures/lecture-2-eulers-numerical-method-for-y-f-x-y/ The equation in question is y'=x^{2}-y^{2}. In an...

So I was hanging out in my professor's office on Friday, playing maths, and I asked, "Couldn't I have a small problem to work on over the weekend?" So he thinks for a minute, and then he says, "If f is a continuous function such that f: [0,1] \to [0,1] , then there exists a fixed x \in [0,1] ...

I'm signing up for a physics course that is rarely offered, and I have 2 choices for professors. One is ideal, great teacher, class is waitlisted. The other is notorious for being difficult, but really knows his stuff. There are 3 people on the waitlist, and I can only register for one...

Homework Statement "Set up an integral involving a function and evaluate the integral to prove the formula for the area of a circle of radius r is pi*r^2. Show all steps." 2. The attempt at a solution I imagined the circle as an infinite tiny arc lengths or "circumference's", with each arc...

These are professor Balakrishnan's quantum physics lectures, he also has classical physics lectures, they're worth watching,, he's good.. Enjoy ^_'' Edit: These are not very introductory, for that you can see Susskind's Lectures, or something else you might find..

I have a miserable professor. It's an easy lower level course. Half of the class has already dropped. I cannot afford that option, as it would put me under full time. I am essentially teaching myself the material with the help of some friends of mine who have taken it previously. I am not...

My professor is a brain teasers fanatic and he told us his favorite one, which is one he made himself. He says only 4 persons have gotten it so far, and he's been telling it to all his classes for over 10 years. No one got it right this year =( I am usually long, but I can be short I can...

I'm a math major who was accepted into two schools for transfer admission. One school is near my home, so I've spent a lot of time talking with the head of the undergraduate program about the courses I'd take if I went there. The other school is in a different state, though, so I haven't been...

Recently, I am reading a paper from Ezra T Newman (in Pittsburg); I want to Email him to ask him a question about his paper. Unfortunately, I am an undergraduate have no such experiences. How should I write? Is there any templete?

I'm an undergrad just finished my second year in chemical engineering. I have worked for a pretty prestigious professor (chair of the ch e department) for a year now. I don't think I made a lot of progress as far as results are concerned, primarily because I was very busy with classes during the...

I have just completed my freshmen year. I want to do major in physics. I am really confused should I go with general physics or focus in some particular branch of it for a good career? I do not want to be a professor doing major in physics but want to do some research and also earn good with my...

I was wondering can you become a professor that teaches both mathematics and computer science assuming you have your bachelors in applied math and masters in computer science. Or do you have to have a masters in the area you wish to teach?

Homework Statement 3. Degenerate Jaynes-Cummings model The Hamiltonian is \hat{H}=\frac{1}{2}\hbar\omega_{0}\hat{\sigma}_{z}+\hbar\omega\hat{a}\dag\hat{a}+\frac{1}{2}\hbar\Omega i(\hat{\sigma}_{+}\hat{a}\dag-\hat{\sigma}_{-}\hat{a}) (8) (a) Find the probability of the atom being in the ground...

This has been something I have wanted to do for a long time, but have never really pursued it. I have taken some courses randomly, but nothing applicable to the degrees I need to get there I am positive. So basically my question is where do I start this very long journey??

I'm a chem e undergrad btw. The professor I work for right now does his own stuff most of the time. the only times I'm in contact with him are the times I have a question, or I'm updating him with results. This is my first research position, and I made a lot of mistakes in terms of organization...

hello friends, this forum is really great I have a really big problem this semester.. my goals as a student is to take great grades because I need them for further education later on, in my previous semester my grades were very good, but now in this semester there is a big problem.. I am a...

I got admitted to a Physics graduate program and just visited the school last week. My main research interest is computational astrophysics and I spoke to the only comp astro prof there. Ever since becoming the director of the supercomputer, I heard that he's not available to students nearly as...

Appropriate to "thank" a professor who artificially boosted your grade in a course? As in, some professors will give you a few extra points on your GPA for a course if they've seen that you worked really hard and that certain freak factors might have prevented you from getting the grade that...

Does anyone else do this when applying to grad schools? And does anyone restrain themselves from doing this? There's always the risk that the person writing your LOR might think less of you if they see your transcript, and that could decrease their opinion of you (an opinion that could be...

Our Physics I midterm exam papers were returned to us this afternoon. One question had been answered wrong by our prof, unfortunately. It was a simple vector question where the gravity is referenced as positive and thus downward acceleration should be positive as well, however she insisted...

"Your professor was right," Klaatu says. "At the precipice, we change." Your thoughts, professor.

And it has one of the largest physics+astrophysics undergraduate enrollments in the nation. Will graduate admissions committees know about this? Especially if they have many applicants from my school? Will this devalue a high grade in that QM course?

Hello All, I am currently emailing a professor I hope to intern under but am unsure what to say. What are the key things to bring up when emailing in such a situation? and more specifically, how can I show interest in his work without sounds brown nose-ish? I am having a hard time finding his...

Tomorrow I have to talk to the professor of the course to audit the course. Is there a possibility that he'll test me on my knowledge? I was planning on studying over my break on my weak points for the course, but now I'm thinking I should be studying tonight and a little before I talk to him...

I cannot for the love of god figure out to do this projectile motion problem, the first problem on this practice exam. Our professor for whatever reason decided not to give a solution page. Somebody PLEASE explain the first problem to me...and if youre feeling brave itd be nice if you could do a...

I asked a professor for advice on whether he thought I would do well in his course given my limited coursework. This is his response: ” Dear Mr. ..., As a science student you should know that to establish a trend line you would need to provide many data points. With your expectation of an...

I wrote in a previous thread that i would like to get a math phd, but after that become a quant or something. The reason i was set on that projected path was twofold. One i was unsure about the job prospects i.e. numbers involved in getting a full time job as a teacher. The other thing is that i...

I am currently an engineering major switching into physics. I was working in a lab in the engineering department and when I told them I am leaving the professors both gave me their two cents. The more senior professor derided following the physics path saying that most real classical physics is...

Homework Statement A physics professor bicycles through air at a speed of v= 36 km/hr. The density of Air is 1.29 kg per m^3. the professor has a cross section of 0.5 m^2. assume all of the air the professor swept out is accelerated to v. a.) What is the mass of the air swept out by the...

Two days ago, we had our midterm. The course is first-year chem, we had about 300 students in the same room writing of two different classes. So there are two professors teaching and they both make the exam for both classes. Two weeks before the exam, our professor told us the brief outline of...

One of my current professors is taking classes over the summer at his grad school. How common is this? I plan on getting a PhD in mechanical engineering right now and assuming I was able to get a job as a professor at a university, would I be able to take classes at that university? I would...

Which would you recommend in general? (1) Doing mathematics research with a professor more or less one-on-one over a summer or (2) doing a traditional mathematics REU, of which I've already done one. I ask because my favorite teacher at my school has been giving me some research-level...

Hey all, I've been lurking for a while to try and see if these problems were solved already but I couldn't find anything so here I am posting! Question #2:A ball is thrown straight upward from the ground. The ball passes a window 4.35 m above the ground and is seen to descend past that same...

Hello, For a couple of months now, maybe years, I've discovered that my real dream job would be becoming a university professor (I like both the research and the teaching parts). I've heard about how tough it is to land a tenure-track job. I'm not from the US, but I plan on getting a Ph.D...

Is "Faith" required to have the best chance to be a physics professor? Someone keeps telling me that that to be a physics professor, it is much better to believe that you will be one for sure (100% certainty), than to believe there is some chance that you will not progress through the good...

I am studying for an upcoming test, and it is known that there are hiccups in our study guide. I am stuck on two problems. Homework Statement 1. What is the frequency, in Hz, of a sound wave (v=340 m/s) with a wavelength of 10 m? 2. A series of ocean waves, each 8 m from crest to...

Homework Statement Or so it seems. Here are 2 that I'm stuck on: 3.11. Use induction on n to prove that a set of n elements has 2n subsets. 3.35. Let q be a real number other than 1. Use induction on n to prove that ∑qi = (qn-1)/(q-1). [the summation goes from i=0 to n-1]...

In my philosophy course it says: (translating it into English, don't mind typo's) Isn't this very wrong? If you only had the particles (H's and O's) and were able to analyze the force fields around them, wouldn't you perfectly be able to predict that there would be something as a liquid as a...

Hello, Has anyone done this? It may be considered very rude, but it's pretty custom among math/physics majors to do the coursework and just skip their classes (and in fact some math/science profs recognize this). The reason to do this, of course, is time. I generally find it quite difficult...

Advantages of being a professor at a "top" school? Hi PF, What advantages are there for professors who go to highly regarded schools, as opposed to mid level schools? I am assuming there may be higher quality peers (professors), but what else could one get at a "top" school that one couldn't...