71 - 80 of 192 results for: all courses

Comprehensive overview of fossil and renewable energy resources and energy efficiency. Topics covered for each resource: resource abundance, location, recovery, conversion, consumption, end-uses, environmental impacts, economics, policy, and technology. Applied lectures in specific energy sectors: buildings, transportation, the electricity industry, and energy in the developing world. Required field trips to local energy facilities. Optional discussion section for extra unit. CEE 173 is offered for 4-5 units; ES 103 is offered for 4-5 units; CEE 207A is offered for 3-5 units: instructor approval required for 3-unit option.

Earthquake location, magnitude and intensity scales, seismic waves, styles of eruptions and volcanic hazards, tsunami waves, types and global distribution of volcanoes, volcano forecasting. Plate tectonics as a framework for understanding earthquake and volcanic processes. Forecasting; earthquake resistant design; building codes; and probabilistic hazard assessment. For non-majors and potential earth scientists. Offered every year, spring quarter.

Preference to freshmen. The stories behind disruptive inventions such as the telegraph, telephone, wireless, television, transistor, and chip are as important as the inventions themselves, for they elucidate broadly applicable scientific principles. Focus is on studying consumer devices; projects include building batteries, energy conversion devices and semiconductors from pocket change. Students may propose topics and projects of interest to them. The trajectory of the course is determined in large part by the students themselves.

The goal of this seminar is to introduce freshmen to the design process associated with an engineering project. The seminar will consist of a series of lectures. The first part of each lecture will focus on the different design aspects of an engineering project, including formation of the design team, developing a project statement, generating design ideas and specifications, finalizing the design, and reporting the outcome. Students will form teams to follow these procedures in designing a term project of their choice over the quarter. The second part of each lecture will consist of outside speakers, including founders of some of the most exciting companies in Silicon Valley, who will share their experiences about engineering design. On-site visits to Silicon Valley companies to showcase their design processes will also be part of the course. The seminar serves three purposes: (1) it introduces students to the design process of turning an idea into a final design, (2) it presents the different functions that people play in a project, and (3) it gives students a chance to consider what role in a project would be best suited to their interests and skills.

Preference to freshmen. The first part is hands-on micro- and nano-fabrication including the Stanford Nanofabrication Facility (SNF) and the Stanford Nanocharacterization Laboratory (SNL) and field trips to local companies and other research centers to illustrate the many applications; these include semiconductor integrated circuits ('chips'), DNA microarrays, microfluidic bio-sensors and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). The second part is to create, design, propose and execute a project. Most of the grade will be based on the project. By the end of the course you will, of course, be able to read critically a New York Times article on nanotechnology. More importantly you will have experienced the challenge (and fun) of designing, carrying out and presenting your own experimental project. As a result you will be better equipped to choose your major. This course can complement (and differs from) the seminars offered by Profs Philip Wong and Hari Manoharan in that it emphasizes laboratory work and an experimental student-designed project. Prerequisites: high-school physics.

Nanotechnology is an often used word and it means many things to different people. Scientists and Engineers have some notion of what nanotechnology is, societal perception may be entirely different. In this course, we start with the classic paper by Richard Feynman ("There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom"), which laid down the challenge to the nanotechnologists. Then we discuss two classic books that offer a glimpse of what nanotechnology is: Engines of Creation: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology by Eric Drexler, and Prey by Michael Crichton. Drexler's thesis sparked the imagination of what nano machinery might do, whereas Crichton's popular novel channeled the public's attention to this subject by portraying a disastrous scenario of a technology gone astray. We will use the scientific knowledge to analyze the assumptions and predictions of these classic works. We will draw upon the latest research advances to illustrate the possibilities and impossibilities of nanotechnology.

Preference to freshmen. The technology of major imaging modalities used for disease diagnosis: x-ray, ultrasound, and magnetic resonance; their history, societal impact, and clinical applications. Field trips to a medical center and an imaging research lab. Term paper and presentation. Prerequisites: high school physics and calculus.

Electronics pervades our lives, yet we often feel obliged to let a device function as it was intended. This course is about not being intimidated by voiding a warranty and modding some commercial gadget and about being confident enough to build something cool from scratch. To get there, we will study the basics of "how things work" and learn how to hack/mod and scratch build. Students will be mentored and encouraged to work, in teams, to play with interesting electronics and ultimately to develop a creative final project.

How everything from electrostatics to quantum mechanics is used in common high-technology products. Electrostatics are critical in micro-mechanical systems used in many sensors and displays, and Electromagnetic waves are essential in all high-speed communication systems. How to propagate energy on transmission lines, optical fibers,and in free space. Which aspects of modern physics are needed to generate light for the operation of a DVD player or TV. Introduction to semiconductors, solid-state light bulbs, and laser pointers. Hands-on labs to connect physics to everyday experience. Prerequisites: Physics 43