Daily Schedule

Anthony M. Szpilka

Associate Professor
Department of Natural Sciences
Carroll College

1601 North Benton Avenue
Helena, Montana 59625

Course Information

Background

Current Interests

Office: 109-A Simperman Hall
Phone: (406) 447-5449
email: aszpilka@carroll.edu

Office Hours (Fall 2009):
TuTh 2:15-3:30 PM
or by appointment

Portrait

Daily Schedule:

FALL 2009

MONDAY

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

FRIDAY


10:00

[Engineering Physics I: Mechanics]

SH 314


10:00

[Engineering Physics I: Mechanics]

SH 314


10:00

[Engineering Physics I: Mechanics]

SH 314

11:00


ENGR/PHYS 305

LAB A

SH 120

 

11:10

Mass

 

12:00

Lunch

11:00


PHYS 205

LAB A

SH 121

 

 

 

 

12:10

Mass

 

11:10

Mass

 

12:00

Lunch

1:00

Lunch

 

1:00

Lunch

1:00

Lunch

 

2:00

[Electronics & Circuit Analysis I]

SH 106

 

2:15

 

OFFICE

2:00

[Electronics & Circuit Analysis I]

SH 106

 

2:15

 

OFFICE

2:00

[Electronics & Circuit Analysis I]

SH 106

3:00


ENGR/PHYS 305

LAB B

SH 120

4:50

 

3:30

3:00


PHYS 205

LAB B

SH 121

4:50

 

 

3:45


PHYS 205

LAB C

SH 121

5:35

 

 

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Course Information:

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PHYS 201-202 Course Notes:

PHYS 201 Laboratory Notes:

Error Analysis

Guidelines for Lab Notebooks

Unit I:  Fundamentals of Measurement & Computation

Sample Lab Report

Unit II:   Kinematics: Speed, Velocity, & Acceleration

Lab 1:   One-dimensional Simple Harmonic Oscillator

Unit III:   Kinematics: Constant-Acceleration Motion

Lab 2:   The Acceleration g of a Freely Falling Body

Unit IV:   Force, Momentum, & Newton's Laws

Lab 3:   Newton's Second Law

Unit V:   Free-Body Diagrams with Various Types of Forces

Lab 3 Datasheet

Unit VI:   Static Equilibrium

Lab 4:   Conservation of Momentum in Two Dimensions

Unit VII: Solids: Stress-Strain Relations

Lab 5:  Centripetal Force

Unit VIII: Rotational Motion 

Lab 5 Datasheet

Unit IX: Work & Kinetic Energy

Lab 6:   Conservation of Energy

Unit X: Conservative Forces & Potential Energy

Lab 6 Datasheet

Unit XI: Fluids: Statics & Dynamics

Lab 7:   Standing Waves in a Vibrating String

Unit XII: Periodic Oscillatory Motion

Lab 7 Datasheet

Unit XIII:  Sound

 

Unit XIV:   Electrostatics: Force & Field

PHYS 202 Laboratory Notes:

Unit XV:   Electrostatics: Potential & Capacitance

Lab 1:   Equipotential Mapping

Unit XVI:   DC ("Direct Current") Circuits

Lab 2:   Ohm's & Kirchhoff's Laws

Unit XVII:   Magnetostatics

Lab 2 Datasheet

Unit XVIII:   Electromagnetic Induction

Lab 3:   Oscilloscope Operation & the R-C Circuit

Unit XIX:   AC ("Alternating Current") Circuits

Lab 4:   Reflection, Refraction, and Simple Lens Systems

Unit XX:   Electromagnetic Radiation

Lab 4 Datasheet

Unit XXI:   Geometrical Optics

Lab 5:   Optics of the Human Eye

Unit XXII:   Physical Optics

Lab 6:   Temperature Coefficient of Linear Expansion

Unit XXIII:   Temperature and Thermal Expansion

Lab 6 Datasheet

Unit XXIV:   Heat Transfers and Phase Transitions

 

Unit XXV:   Thermodynamics

 

Unit XXVI:   Quantum Physics

 

Unit XXVII:   Nuclear Physics

 

 

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Background:

Education

Employment

Publications

Research Topics

Education:

McGraw Tower Cornell University
  • Ph.D., Applied Physics (1985)
    Thesis Title: "Domain Wall Interactions and Spatially Modulated Phases"
    Thesis Advisor: Dr. Michael E. Fisher
  • M.Sc., Applied Physics (with Mathematics Minor) (1983)
Mathematical Bridge University of Cambridge
  • Certificate of Post-Graduate Study in Natural Science (1980)
    Thesis Title: "Electrical and Optical Properties of Thin Films of Group IV Amorphous Semiconductors prepared in Ultra-high Vacuum and measured in situ"
    Thesis advisor:  Dr. Petr Viscor
Nassau Hall Princeton University
  • B.S.Eng., Electrical Engineering (Engineering Physics Program) (1979)

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Employment:

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Selected Publications:

  1. "Optical Constants and D.C. Electrical Conductivity of Evaporated Films of Amorphous Germanium" (with P. Viscor), Kinam 3, 365-388 (1981).

  2. "D.C. Electrical Conductivity of Evaporated Amorphous Germanium--the Low-Temperature Behavior" (with P. Viscor), Philosophical Magazine B45, 485-496 (1982).

  3. "Melting and Wetting Transitions in the Three-State Chiral Clock Model" (with D.A. Huse and M.E. Fisher), Physica 121A, 363-398 (1983).

  4. "The Asymptotic Behaviour of Directed Self-Avoiding Walks," Journal of Physics A16, 2883-2885 (1983).

  5. "Finite-Size Scaling for Directed Self-Avoiding Walks" (with V. Privman), Physical Review B28, 6613-6615 (1983); 29, 5224(E) (1984).

  6. "Low-Temperature Phase Diagram of the ANNNI Model in a Magnetic Field," Journal of Physics C18, 569-579 (1985).

  7. "Monte Carlo Study of a Model for the Roughening Transition of High-Index Crystal Faces" (with W. Selke), Zeitschrift für Physik B62, 381-386 (1986).

  8. "Domain Wall Interactions and Spatially Modulated Phases" (with M.E. Fisher), Physical Review Letters 57, 1044-1047 (1986).

  9. "Domain Wall Interactions I. General Features and Phase Diagrams for Spatially Modulated Phases" (with M.E. Fisher), Physical Review B36, 644-666 (1987).

  10. "Domain Wall Interactions II. High-Order Phases in the ANNNI Model" (with M.E. Fisher), Physical Review B36, 5343-5362 (1987).

  11. "Domain Wall Interactions III. High-Order Phases in the Three-State Chiral Clock Model" (with M.E. Fisher), Physical Review B36, 5363-5376 (1987).

  12. "Integer Quantized Hall Effect in Spin-Density-Wave Phases of Two-Dimensional Conductors" (with M. Kohmoto), University of Tokyo ISSP Report Ser. A, No. 2109 (1989).

  13. "Review and Theory of Oxygen Ordering in the High-Temperature Superconductor YBa2Cu3O7-x" (with M.L. Glasser, D.C. Mattis, and M.P. Mattis), Phase Transitions 22, 185-211 (1990).

  14. "Structural Mechanics--Beams and Bridges" (with J.L. Scharf), in Interdisciplinary Lively Application Projects (ILAPs), ed. David C. Arney (Mathematical Association of America, 1997), pp. 143-159.

  15. "Classroom Strategies for Cooperative Learning" (with W.E. Fenton et al.), in Cooperative Learning in Undergraduate Mathematics: Issues that Matter and Strategies that Work, MAA Notes # 55, ed. E.C. Rogers et al. (Mathematical Association of America, 2001), Chapter 3 (pp. 23-53).

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Research Topics:

University of Utah (Salt Lake City, Utah, 1987-1989)

Institut für Festkörperforschung der Kernforschungsanlage Jülich
(Jülich, Germany, 1985)

Cornell University (Ithaca, New York, 1982-1985)

University of Cambridge (Cambridge, England, 1979-1980)

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Current Interests:

Interdisciplinary Lively Application Projects (ILAPs)

First developed at the United States Military Academy at West Point, these projects are intended to be done by groups of students in various mathematics courses (both for majors and non-majors) throughout the four-year curriculum. As their name implies, ILAPs incorporate elements from several academic disciplines, requiring students to synthesize information and methods from different courses in which they have been or are currently enrolled.

Several of the faculty at Carroll are involved in developing ILAPs, as part of Carroll's participation in Project INTERMATH, a consortium of twelve schools around the country, led by the U.S. Military Academy and underwritten by the National Science Foundation. For example, "Structural Mechanics--Beams and Bridges," by John Scharf and Anthony Szpilka, appeared in the volume Interdisciplinary Lively Application Projects (ILAPs), edited by David C. Arney and published in 1997 by the Mathematical Association of America (see publication 14).

Currently under review by the MAA is another ILAP, "Where on Earth are You?" by Anthony Szpilka, John Scharf, and Marie Vanisko. This ILAP addresses the problem of finding one's location on the surface of the Earth, exploring an array of methods as ancient as observation of the Sun and stars, and as modern as employment of Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers. The work was begun in conjunction with Frank Wattenberg, whose Connected Curriculum project contains a module on the topic.

Cooperative Learning in Undergraduate Mathematics (CLUME)

This project, organized by Ed Dubinsky and Sr. Barbara Reynolds under the auspices of the Mathematical Association of America, aims at the development of more effective pedagogical methods for mathematics at the collegiate level. The goal is to engage students in a variety of activities both in and out of the classroom, which make them active participants in their education, instead of passive listeners. See A Practical Guide to Cooperative Learning in Collegiate Mathematics, published in 1995 by the Mathematical Association of America, for a description of these methods.

The group of college faculty who attended an intensive two-week workshop on cooperative learning in June 1995 have met periodically since then, and have co-authored Cooperative Learning in Collegiate Mathematics: Issues that Matter and Strategies that Work (published in 2001 by the MAA), based on their experiences in the classroom (see publication 15).

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