Last Chance Lab

Today is the penultimate day of teaching in the Spring Semester at Maynooth University and I’m here in the Computer Lab for the last time. This afternoon’s session is just a drop-in consultation session for Computational Physics students doing their projects and although it has been busier than previous weeks it has not exactly been a hive of activity. The deadline for project submissions is tomorrow afternoon, so I was expecting a bit of a rush at this session, which is the last of its type, and also at my office hour this morning. I did have one student attend this morning, and a couple of others this afternoon, but other than for them it has been quiet.

On the other hand, over a day before the deadline, three students have already submitted their project reports and code. I’m impressed with that, but also a little surprised. I’ve come to expect just-in-time delivery for such things.

Yesterday I did my last particle physics tutorial of the year and followed that immediately afterwards I attended a long session of final-year project talks, from 3pm to just after 6pm. It is obvious that some students find these presentations a bit of an ordeal but it is important to learn how to present your work so such things are part of the rite of passage. It is good for staff to get an overview of the all projects being done in the Department too.

In previous years the final project presentations for students in the Departments of Theoretical Physics and Experimental Physics were done separately, the former having a somewhat smaller audience than the latter. The two previous Departments having merged into a single Department of Physics, this time round we had all the talks together (though spread over two days, yesterday and the Wednesday before). I think the combined sessions worked quite well and we will probably do it this way next year.

After the session of talks there was a small drinks party in the foyer of the Science Building. That was a nice occasion, and it struck me that it would have been the last time this group of students would all meet together until their graduation. Tomorrow I do my last particle physics lecture and it will be the last time I see quite a few of the students in that class until graduation too. They’ve been a nice group to work with, very engaged and easy to interact with. It is a great pleasure to be teaching students who are eager to learn . That’s the aspect of academic life I’ll miss the most when I retire.

The Sharp End of Term

So here I am, sitting in the (empty) Physics Computer Lab. The formal Computational Physics lab sessions are over, but I’m on duty to provide help the students with their project work, which will take up the remaining two-and-a-bit weeks of term. It’s a lovely day outside which explains why there are very few people in the lab, and none of them have asked for help so I’ve been busy getting on with some work. Past experience with these sessions suggests that they’ll all come just before the project deadline, which is May 8th.

Up until last week I had a Computational Physics lecture at 9am on Thursdays, but the last one of those happened last Thursday. It was nice to have a more leisurely start this morning. I did think I might get a haircut on the way to work but when I passed my usual barber’s I saw it was full of people waiting their turn so I walked on. It seems that the good weather gave quite a few people the same urge to have shorter hair.

Yesterday was the last Class Test for my other class, Particle Physics, and I’ve taken the opportunity to correct all the scripts for that. I even had time to type up the solutions all neatly and tidily in Latex (including doing Feynman diagrams, which is fun).The end of that job means no more grading for that module until the main examination, which is about a month away. I do however, have lectures and tutorials still to do, including two at 9am on Tuesdays.

The finest weather is usually reserved for the exam period, of course, to maximize the annoyance of students. In my memory all my undergraduate examinations took place in very fine weather, with the exception of my Physics practical the night before which there was an enormous thunderstorm. Come to think of it, that could well have been a portent that warned me off experiments and made me become a theorist.

Been working on my Linux machine for 3 months now at work - comp. physics, hpc, etc.
Tried working on my MBP yesterday (after around 5 months of not using it for development) - while a superior machine h/w wise, I really couldn't stand macOS.
Linux just works - better even.

#linux #macos #development #hpc #scientificcomputing #computationalphysics #ux #ubuntu #SoftwareDevelopment

Computational Physics (2nd Edition)

https://websites.umich.edu/~mejn/cp2/

#HackerNews #ComputationalPhysics #ComputationalPhysics2ndEdition #PhysicsResources #UMich #Publications #STEMEducation

My latest blog post explores a Multi-Material Thermal Analysis using HYPRE BoomerAMG with a custom POSIT accelerator called Uttunga, and compares it to the x86 IEEE 754 standard.

https://www.amartyadav.com/posts/post3.html

#computationalphysics #hpc #opensource #scientificcomputing #thermalphysics #Automotive #automotiveengineering #calligo #posit #ieee_754

Postdoctoral Fellowship in Thermal Transport or Phase Change Materials
Shandong University

See the full job description on jobRxiv: https://jobrxiv.org/job/shandong-university-27778-postdoctoral-fellowship-in-thermal-transport-or-phase-change-materials/

#computationalphysics #materialsscience #phasetransitions #thermaltransport #ScienceJobs #hiring #researc...
https://jobrxiv.org/job/shandong-university-27778-postdoctoral-fellowship-in-thermal-transport-or-phase-change-materials/?fsp_sid=9921