• mechanic and electronic properties of molecules and periodic structures and
• quantum transport through nanostructures.

• students cluster and work in teams of two people;
• the semester is split in five mini-projects of three weeks each
• the first two weeks of each project are "tutorial sessions" in the Physics Department computer lab, unix "CIP pool" in room Phy 1.0.02; during this time the project should be completed with the help of small propaedeutic exercises
• every third week every team will present its own work in a "presentation session'' (about five-minute mini-talk)

Projects

FAQ

• I have no experience in programming. Will I have a chance to follow?

  Scientific programming is very different from what you might have learned back in an introductory programming (c) course you took years ago (if you did it at all). If you can scrap up from your memories some basic knowledge about programming in c, we will take you from there and give you enough sample codes to start right through.

• I have been programming for years. What new can you teach to a hacker like me?

  Did we mention that scientific programming is very different from what you might have used before? However: if you need more challenge than the regular tasks, we'll certainly find something for you to chew on...

• Is this just about translating formulas into c-code, or what?

  Of course, numerics usually starts out from some analytical formula, which will be given in the theory lecture. But beyond translating this formula into c-code, scientific computing is also about setting up a program to run a job, using libraries, storing and postprocessing of data as well as visualizing, interpreting and presenting the results. All this will appear somewhere along the course through the various projects.

• One presentation every three weeks?! Are you crazy?

  First: you are in a team, so you may split the work. Second: The presentation is supposed to be very short and informal. Third: You will get an excellent template, so you just have to fill in a bit of text and a few graphs. All in all, these presentations are the perfect opportunity to get some routine in presenting your ideas in a friendly, informal environment. In your future work, be it in academics or in the industry, presentation skills are complentary and important factors to success!

• These presentation sessions -- all teams presenting solutions to the same task -- how boring do you want to be?

  To save everybody the boredom of listening to several nearly-identical talks, the projects will consist not only of a mandatory task, but also a creative part: you are encouraged to go beyond the given task, try out your own ideas and present your own discoveries. This is, where the fun of research begins!