Experiences and Thoughts on STEMTEC-Inspired Changes in Teaching Physics for Life Science Majors

I have taught an introductory course for life science majors three times, each time introducing one or more teaching techniques discussed during the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Teaching Education Collaborative (STEMTEC) meetings. Typical class size was 275 students. I cannot make quantitative statements about comparisons between the results of STEMTEC-type teaching methods and traditional teaching methods because I have never taught this course in a completely traditional lecture style. During the first year, I introduced conceptual questions into my lectures. The lecture would be interrupted several times with questions posed to the class. The students then had several minutes to discuss each question among their neighbors, then present their answers. During the second year, I switched from traditional homework to a computerized system which allowed instant feedback to the students, and the ability to resubmit solutions to problems they had not successfully solved. I also introduced an exam format that enabled the students to work individually, then redo the exam in groups and hand in a second set of solutions. The goal of each of these techniques was to increase the engagement of the students with the material of the course. Each of the techniques had both successes and limitations. The most serious problems I confronted were technical difficulties which diverted attention from the tasks at hand to the necessity of keeping the system functioning

A reduced-form statistical climate model suitable for coupling with economic emissions projections

Thesis (M. Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2007.Includes bibliographical references (p. 36-37).In this work, we use models based on past data and scientific analysis to determine possible future states of the environment. We attempt to improve the equations for temperature and greenhouse gas concentration used in conjunction with the MIT Emissions Prediction and Policy Analysis (EPPA) model or for independent climate analysis based on results from the more complex MIT Integrated Global Systems Model (IGSM). The functions we generate should allow a software system to approximate the environmental variables from the policy inputs in a matter of seconds. At the same time, the estimates should be close enough to the exact values given by the IGSM to be considered meaningful.by Gregory S. Rabin.M.Eng

Chaplygin Gravitodynamics

We consider a new approach for gravity theory coupled to Chaplygin matter in which the {\it{relativistic}} formulation of the latter is of crucial importance. We obtain a novel form of matter with dust like density $(\sim (volume)^{-1})$ and negative pressure. We explicitly show that our results are compatible with a relativistic generalization of the energy conservation principle, derived here.Comment: Title changed, Revised version,N o change in conclusions, Journal ref.: MPL A21 (2006)1511-151

Statistical Origin of Gravity

Starting from the definition of entropy used in statistical mechanics we show that it is proportional to the gravity action. For a stationary black hole this entropy is expressed as $S = E/ 2T$, where $T$ is the Hawking temperature and $E$ is shown to be the Komar energy. This relation is also compatible with the generalised Smarr formula for mass.Comment: LaTex, 7 pages, no figure, minor clarifications, references added, to appear in Phys. Rev.