Senior Research: Physics 99D

  1. A committee of two or more faculty will supervise the work, one of whom will be the official instructor.

  2. A written thesis proposal must be prepared at the beginning of the first semester, and be approved by the committee and the advising coordinator, prior to registration for the course. The advising coordinator must sign the form. Once the form is signed, then the student must submit an override request in Workday to register for the class.

  3. A mid-year evaluation must be done by the end of the first semester, and a written report submitted to the advising coordinator. Students judged to have made insufficient progress will not be permitted to continue in the second semester.

  4. A thesis in a department-approved format must be submitted to the committee by the last day of classes in the second semester. At a minimum, the thesis must have a title page, a signature page, an abstract, description of the work performed and the conclusions reached, and references. Students are encouraged to learn the Latex typesetting system.

  5. The student must defend his/her thesis in a public oral examination of at least 30 minutes duration by the end of exams second semester. The talk should take place in the student’s research group, and should be accessible to junior physics majors. A list of thesis defense talks will be published.

  6. Written evaluations of the thesis and of the defense must be submitted by the committee to the advising coordinator by the Friday preceding the department degree meeting.

  7. The level of distinction will be determined from evaluation of both the thesis and the student’s academic record.

  8. Students wishing to graduate in seven semesters must start their thesis research in the spring semester of their junior year, and follow the same rules moved forward one semester.

  9. Supervisors outside of the Physics Department are acceptable, either in other Brandeis departments or outside of the university. All the rules above apply, including the deadlines. The defense must take place in the Brandeis Physics Department. The outside advisor may be an ex officio member of the supervising committee, and advise the committee on the evaluation of the work performed. The grade for Physics 99D will be determined by the Brandeis instructor of the course.