Physics (13) The Physics and Chemistry Departments are developing and implementing a series of integrated modern physics experiments into upper-level physics laboratory courses and enhancing the optical component of the physical chemistry laboratory curriculum. The project is adapting six innovative experiments that utilize external cavity diode lasers to integrate significant advances from atomic, molecular, and chemical physics research into the laboratory curriculum. The project is drawing ideas from the physics and chemistry literature and making available results from the project to other physicists and chemists.
Intellectual merit: The primary objective of the project is to be the centerpiece of an initiative to inject contemporary physics topics and experimental techniques into the physics curriculum earlier and more often. A significant secondary objective is to stimulate student interest in research, and the laboratory topics have been chosen that are relevant to a number of research areas in atomic, molecular, and optical physics. In chemistry, a main objective is to fill specific gaps in the current laboratory curriculum. Both departments expect to highlight the interdisciplinary nature of chemistry and physics, and this project is part of a larger effort, including the creation of the chemical physics major program.
Broader impact: The project appreciably enhances undergraduate education in the physics and chemistry departments, and in turn, in South Dakota, a state that has been traditionally underrepresented in scientific education and research funding, particularly in physics. In recent surveys, 37.5% of the physics degrees (2002) and approximately 36% of the chemistry degrees (2001) awarded in South Dakota came from Augustana College. Results are also of wider interest in the physics and chemistry communities.
