Introduction to the Professions
Write a brief (150-300 word) essay or discussion
on one of the following topics.
This can be turned in by e-mail or in hard-copy by the due date.
Summarize, in 250-400 words, the first five essays (chapters) in
Trefil's book, 101 things you don't know about science
and no one else does either.
Provide details of what the author says on these topics.
By this date you should have read all of the first ten essays.
Assignment for Wednesday 17 September 2003
Do one of the following:
Assignment for Wednesday 1 October 2003:
Below are five lists of scholarly journals--one list each for
biology, chemistry, physics, molecular biochemistry and biophysics,
and applied mathematics.
Pick the list that applies to your own major.
Go to Galvin Library and determine which of these journals are:
Assignment for Wednesday 8 October 2003:
Examine the course website developed by Bernard Rupp at Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratory on macromolecular crystallography,
http://www-structure.llnl.gov/Xray/101index.html.
Come to me for help in finding this if you encounter difficulties.
If you are unable to get to this webpage initially, don't give up;
try again later or come to me for assistance.
Read over the overviews of the four sections of the crystallography
course, all of which appear on the frame on the lefthand side of the
page:
Assignment for Wednesday 15 October 2003
Do EITHER of the following:
Do both of the following:
Assignment for Friday 31 October 2003
(n.b. The due date has shifted from Wednesday to Friday
because of the fall break)
As a preparation for future oral presentations in this department
and elsewhere, hand in a brief (less than 20-line)
bulleted-form outline of an oral presentation on a scientific topic.
The topic may be any scientific one, but I recommend you draw the
subject matter from a recent issue of Science News,
the science section of the New York Times,
the news section of Science, or Scientific American.
When you do your group oral presentation later in November,
it may turn out to be derived from the outline you turn in at this
point, but it doesn't have to be.
Provide a summary and a critique
of the the sixth through tenth chapters or essays in Trefil's book.
Your summary should be similar to that provided in the September assignment,
but it should be supplemented with a critique. Concentrate on critiquing
how effectively Trefil communicates information and ideas.
By this date you should have read the first sixty of
the essays in the book.
Research the career of any scientist. Write a brief essay on his or
her life, scientific accomplishments, and place in scientific history.
At minimum, write a substantial paragraph on the scientist's life;
another substantial paragraph on his or her scientific achievement;
and another that explores the degree to which he or she was ahead of
rather than riding the crest of the scientific accomplishments
of the era.
By this date you should have read all the essays
in Trefil's book.
(n.b.: This date is during Thanksgiving vacation, so if you want
to complete this assignment prior to the vacation so it isn't hanging over
your head while you're away, then turn it in by Wednesday 26 November.)
Turn in a rough draft of your semester-project book review or
other special project. We will grade it and e-mail comments
to you in time for you to make revisions prior to the
final due date of Saturday 13 December 2003. The specific instructions
for this rough draft are found at
http://csrri.iit.edu/~howard/itp/roughdraft.html.
Summarize in your own words the scientific focus of two of the
Collaborative Access Teams at the Advanced Photon Source.
You can derive the information for your summary either from the
things you see on the tour or from the CATs' websites, or both.
The CAT websites are all accessible from
http://www.aps.anl.gov/cats/cathome.html.
Don't pick IMCA-CAT, since it's hard for me to be objective about it!
Turn in the final version of your semester-project book review or
other special project by 5 pm.
Assignment for Wednesday 10 September 2003:
n.b.:
A residue is one of the amino-acid building blocks from which
a protein is made; that is, a protein built up from 210 amino acids
is said to contain 210 residues.
There are several atoms in a methionine residue.
Count residues, not atoms!
If you don't understand how this works, talk to me about it.
In particular, if you choose physics, you may want to examine
a website developed by the American Institute of Physics:
http://www.aip.org/statistics/trends/trends.htm
and a site accessible from that:
http://www.aip.org/statistics/trends/undtrends.htm
If you choose biology, check out a site maintained by the
Federation of American Societies of Experimental Biology:
http://www.faseb.org/careers
and
http://www.faseb.org/career/pubs/unlock.htm
This site is short on numerical data, but has a substantial amount of
qualitative information.
To get a picture that includes some statistics, go to a governmentally-
maintained site,
http://stats.bls.gov/oco/ocos047.htm
If you choose chemistry, check out the career information available
from the American Chemical Society's
website, including
their
general discussion in Chemical & Engineering News.
http://www.acs.org/careers/empres/broch3.html.
A particularly useful resource is a
PDF file containing a statistical survey on graduates of the class of 2002.
If you do not have Adobe Acrobat Reader on your computer,
you'll need to get it in order to read this PDF file. I can help you with that.
Discipline Journal 1 Journal 2 Journal 3 Journal 4 Biology Cell Journal of
BacteriologyGut
Journal of the American
Veterinary AssociationChemistry Journal of
Organic ChemistryAnalytical
SciencesJournal of the American
Oil Chemists' SocietyJournal of
Natural ProductsPhysics Physical Review
LettersJournal of
RheologyPhysics Today Acta Crystallographica,
Section AMolecular Biochemistry
and BiophysicsJournal of
BiochemistryBiochemical and Biophysical
Research CommunicationsJournal of
Molecular BiologyProteins: Structure,
Function and Genetics
Applied Mathematics SIAM Journal on
Applied MathematicsApplied
MathematicsJournal of Applied
Mathematics and MechanicsFibonacci Quarterly
Also read one or more of the detailed sections of the course,
e.g. the "Crystal Growing" section under "Experimental Setup".
Once you've read the information, write a 150-300 discussion of
the website. Answer the following questions as part of your discussion:
Incorporate the answers to these questions into a coherent essay;
don't just answer them individually.
Assignment for Wednesday 22 October 2003:
x
1.2 2.1 3.3 4.2
5.4 6.4 7.5 8.4
9.5 10.7 11.6 12.9
13.8 14.8 16.0 17.2
y
9.2 8.5 7.0 6.5
5.1 4.9 4.1 3.0
2.3 1.8 1.3 0.4
-0.7 -1.3 -2.1 -2.9
max |y(calc) - y(obs)|
where y(calc) = ax + b and y(obs) is the observed y value.
Recalculate the least-squares line, omitting that one point.
For full credit you should do the recalculation without starting from
scratch (hint: fiddle with the definitions [17]).
Find a Materials Safety Data Sheet for any two of the following
substances:
In your own words, summarize the hazards associated with the use
of the two substances you choose. Be aware that some of the "precautions"
nominally associated with the substance are really just descriptions
of good laboratory practice.
Which of the two would you prefer to work with in a lab, from a safety
standpoint? Why?
Hints: if you want to look for MSDS's on the World-Wide Web,
try the SIRI site, or
a site
in the Physical and Theoretical Chemistry Laboratory at Oxford University,
or a site
maintained at Cornell University's Department of
Environmental Health and Safety.
as a starting place. For the more complicated names (e.g. the last one)
try simpler versions, e.g. pentanediol, in the search engine,
and then look for the name you actually need.
You need not actually turn in the MSDS's you find, but you can.
Assignment for Friday 7 November 2003:
Assignment for Friday 14 November 2003:
Assignment for Friday 21 November 2003:
Assignment for Friday 28 November 2003:
Assignment for Friday 5 December 2003:
Assignment for Saturday 13 December 2003: