This syllabus is subject to update; any changes made will be announced to the class. Students are responsible for knowing the contents of the latest version of this syllabus! (The most common changes are adjustments of office hours or due dates.)
As a matter of public health and safety due to the pandemic, all members of the CU Boulder community and all visitors to campus must follow university, department and building requirements and all public health orders in place to reduce the risk of spreading infectious disease. Students who fail to adhere to these requirements will be asked to leave class, and students who do not leave class when asked or who refuse to comply with these requirements will be referred to Student Conduct and Conflict Resolution. For more information, see the policy on classroom behavior and the Student Code of Conduct. If you require accommodation because a disability prevents you from fulfilling these safety measures, please follow the steps in the “Accommodation for Disabilities” statement on this syllabus.
As of Aug. 13, 2021, CU Boulder has returned to requiring masks in classrooms and laboratories regardless of vaccination status. This requirement is a temporary precaution during the delta surge to supplement CU Boulder’s COVID-19 vaccine requirement. Exemptions include individuals who cannot medically tolerate a face covering, as well as those who are hearing-impaired or otherwise disabled or who are communicating with someone who is hearing-impaired or otherwise disabled and where the ability to see the mouth is essential to communication. If you qualify for a mask-related accommodation, please follow the steps in the “Accommodation for Disabilities” statement on this syllabus. In addition, vaccinated instructional faculty who are engaged in an indoor instructional activity and are separated by at least 6 feet from the nearest person are exempt from wearing masks if they so choose.
Students who have tested positive for COVID-19, have symptoms of COVID-19, or have had close contact with someone who has tested positive for or had symptoms of COVID-19 must stay home. In this class, if you are sick or quarantined, contact Prof. Neil by e-mail to discuss options for making up class material. (Short absences are covered by the homework drop policy; see below.)
If you are ill with cold-like, flu-like or COVID-like symptoms, do NOT come to class or to the Duane Physics building, and do NOT meet with a study group to work on problem sets. DO follow campus public health guidance on what to do if you feel sick. DO get rest and take care of yourself – coursework can wait until you are feeling better! You should not come back to lecture until your symptoms have resolved. Lecture recordings will be available so that you can keep up.
For more info on quarantine and isolation procedures, see https://www.colorado.edu/health/public-health/quarantine-and-isolation#isolation. You can also call the CU Boulder Medical Services NurseLine at 303-492-5101 for guidance.
If you have administrative issues or anything you want to talk to me one-on-one about, you should come to the zoom OH on Tuesday or make an appointment. The in-person office hours on Wednesday are meant for general lecture/homework questions. You can also ask physics questions at the Tuesday OH as long as I’m not busy talking to another student.
A note on Slack: feel free to send me Slack DMs anytime! However, you should only expect an immediate response if I’m in office hours (and not busy talking to someone else.) Otherwise, it will be treated like e-mail: I’ll reply to your message when I see it.
Evening session to come work on the homework with other students, and ask questions of our learning assistants (LAs)!
The help session is held on Wednesdays from 5:00-7:00 PM, in the physics help room G2B90.
A small number of copies of both Taylor and Boas are on reserve in the engineering library.
As a supplement to Boas (sometimes multiple explanations are really helpful in making math methods ‘click’), the book Applied engineering analysis by Tai-Ran Hsu is available through the CU library as an electronic book.
Questions during lecture are strongly encouraged! It’s easy for me to go over material quickly, and it’s your responsibility to control the pace of the class by asking questions if you don’t understand something. You’re also welcome to ask questions at my office hours or by e-mail, of course.
Lecture notes will be posted to the class website, after every lecture. This is intentionally done to encourage you to take your own notes; often the best way to reinforce a concept that you’ve just learned is to try to rephrase it in your own words! It’s recommended that you focus on important concepts in your notes, rather than trying to get all of the formulas or every line of a derivation down; those will be available in the posted notes.
All homework assignments will be posted on the Canvas page, located at http://canvas.colorado.edu.
Homework will be due on Wednesdays at midnight (Boulder local time), and must be submitted electronically as a PDF file using Canvas. It is your responsibility to make sure it is turned in on-time, complete, and that the graders can read it!
Some tips on scanning: you must submit a single PDF file containing your written work. The contents must be legible - try to make sure the scan is easily readable, which usually means high contrast. Some useful apps include Scannable for iOS, GeniusScan for iOS/Android, or CamScanner for iOS/Android.
No late homework will be accepted. However, your lowest three homework grades will automatically be dropped. This is more drops than I usually give, and is intended to cover short to intermediate absences due to sickness or other extenuating circumstances during the semester. This rule may be waived at Prof. Neil’s discretion in extraordinary circumstances (a documented extended absence, for example.) You are strongly advised to do all of the homework or at least go through solutions, even if you intentionally take a drop - much of the learning in this class is through the homework!
You are encouraged to collaborate on the homework assignments - collaboration and communication are both important parts of modern science. However, if you work with other students on an assignment, please make sure that all collaborators' names are clearly printed on your submission at the top. You must turn in your own personal write-up for each assignment! The only exception is for problems which require Mathematica, in which case you may submit a copy of a jointly written Mathematica notebook.
Encouraging collaboration is especially important in an environment with more remote learning. As a result, certain homework problems this semester may be labelled as “open discussion”. As an exception to the other policies above, you may talk about the solution of these problems openly with the entire class; a Slack channel will be provided for this purpose. You do not have to list collaborators for the “open discussion” problems, but you do still have to turn in your own personal write-up.
Make sure to explain your solutions in detail and step-by-step. Partial credit will be given for incorrect answers, but the graders can only give you credit for what you write down!
Official CU final exam policy is here: http://www.colorado.edu/policies/final-examination-policy
Exams will be open-book, open-notes. They will be conducted remotely over Canvas, and at least the first two exams will be asynchronous. This means that although you will have a time limit to take the exam, you will get to choose the starting time that works best for you within some longer time window (e.g. you will take the exam in a 90-minute block during a 48-hour window.) More details on the exam structure will be given closer to the first midterm exam.
Clicker responses can help to indirectly improve your grade! The percentage of correct clicker answers you submit will count as extra credit! For every 5% your clicker score rises above 50%, you will gain 1% of extra credit on both midterm exams, up to a maximum of 10%, and not increasing your midterm score above 100%. Note that this bonus is for your overall clicker score, and will be applied at the very end of the semester. Only answered questions count for your clicker score, i.e. being absent won’t hurt your percentage. There is no attendance grade for clickers - so you don’t have to worry about it if you need to miss a few lectures due to illness or quarantine.
If you qualify for accommodations because of a disability, please submit your accommodation letter from Disability Services to your faculty member in a timely manner so that your needs can be addressed. Disability Services determines accommodations based on documented disabilities in the academic environment. Information on requesting accommodations is located on the Disability Services website. Contact Disability Services at 303-492-8671 or dsinfo@colorado.edu for further assistance. If you have a temporary medical condition or injury, see Temporary Medical Conditions under the Students tab on the Disability Services website.
Both students and faculty are responsible for maintaining an appropriate learning environment in all instructional settings, whether in person, remote or online. Those who fail to adhere to such behavioral standards may be subject to discipline. Professional courtesy and sensitivity are especially important with respect to individuals and topics dealing with race, color, national origin, sex, pregnancy, age, disability, creed, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, veteran status, political affiliation or political philosophy. For more information, see the policies on classroom behavior and the Student Code of Conduct.
CU Boulder recognizes that students' legal information doesn’t always align with how they identify. Students may update their preferred names and pronouns via the student portal; those preferred names and pronouns are listed on instructors' class rosters. In the absence of such updates, the name that appears on the class roster is the student’s legal name.
All students enrolled in a University of Colorado Boulder course are responsible for knowing and adhering to the Honor Code. Violations of the policy may include: plagiarism, cheating, fabrication, lying, bribery, threat, unauthorized access to academic materials, clicker fraud, submitting the same or similar work in more than one course without permission from all course instructors involved, and aiding academic dishonesty. All incidents of academic misconduct will be reported to the Honor Code (honor@colorado.edu); 303-492-5550). Students found responsible for violating the academic integrity policy will be subject to nonacademic sanctions from the Honor Code as well as academic sanctions from the faculty member. Additional information regarding the Honor Code academic integrity policy can be found at the Honor Code Office website.
The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder) is committed to fostering a positive and welcoming learning, working, and living environment. CU Boulder will not tolerate acts of sexual misconduct, intimate partner abuse (including dating or domestic violence), stalking, or protected-class discrimination or harassment by members of our community. Individuals who believe they have been subject to misconduct or retaliatory actions for reporting a concern should contact the Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance (OIEC) at 303-492-2127 or cureport@colorado.edu. Information about the OIEC, university policies, anonymous reporting, and the campus resources can be found on the OIEC website.
Please know that faculty and instructors have a responsibility to inform OIEC when made aware of incidents of sexual misconduct, discrimination, harassment and/or related retaliation, to ensure that individuals impacted receive information about options for reporting and support resources.
Campus policy regarding religious observances requires that faculty make every effort to deal reasonably and fairly with all students who, because of religious obligations, have conflicts with scheduled exams, assignments or required attendance. Please contact Professor Neil if you find yourself in such a conflict. See full details at this page.