As for the experimental laboratory activity at the Bachelor’s degree level, students – divided in small groups of 3-4 people – take directly part in laboratory activities, employing tools, investigation methods and techniques of analysis proper of the Experimental Physics. The laboratory activity consists of approximately two full-time weeks of attendance, and aims at making students experienced with the complex and charming nature of the research activity. The laboratory activity is typically preparatory to the dissertation to be defended at the end of the Master’s degree.
Attendance rules
in order to participate in the laboratory activities, the students are requested to:
1) having inserted the course INTRODUCTION TO EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH AND FINAL EXAM (cod. 052538) in their Study Plan for their academic third year;
2) having passed those exams with specific priority.
Since the academic year 2023-2024, before enrolling in the course LABORATORY ACTIVITY AND FINAL EXAM, students are required to have successfully passed the following exams: EXPERIMENTAL PHYSICS I and II (while passing the exam of INTRODUCTION TO QUANTUM PHYSISCS is no longer mandatory);
3) comply with the University safety rules. In accordance with current University rules, students are requested to match the following requirements in order to participate in the laboratory activities:
- having passed the Basic Safety Course, provided by the University Safety and Protection Service (available from online services in the Data->Training Courses section). All the students should have already passed it. However, we remind that if students have not passed the exam, they will be excluded from laboratory activities;
- having passed the Intermediate Safety Course provided by the Physics Department, related to the emergency plan and general risks in the department. Further details will be sent by e-mail to the students;
4) must be assigned to a laboratory activity.
At this link, you can find the list of the available laboratory activities for the year 2024.
LINK for the selection of the activity: https://forms.gle/diY3dpAzLVRma2di8
For each laboratory, the following pieces of information are provided:
- Line, the research line of the Physics Department the laboratory refers to; N, the reference number of the laboratory within the Line; Laboratory, the title of the laboratory activity;
- Head of the project, the person to get in contact with in case additional information is needed;
- Description, description of the laboratory activity;
- E-mail, the email address of the laboratory head.
Timing
For best organization of the laboratory activities for the Study Programme in Engineering Physics, students are requested either to provide information on their preferred dates to take part in the activities or to confirm they attended the activities in previous years.
In the following, indicative deadlines are reported:
- By 24/03/2024 they will receive the list of the available laboratories.
- By 07/04/2024, they should express their preferences on the research lines by filling an online form. Not filling the latter by the due date will be considered as the will not to participate to the laboratory activities during the year 2019.
- By 14/04/2024, after having received the students’ preferences and their certificates of completion of the Basic Safety Course, each student will be assigned to a laboratory.
Allocation criteria
The allocation of the students will account for the following factors:
- students’ preference;
- minimum and maximum number of students per laboratory (2 and 4, respectively, unless otherwise stated);
- students’ merit parameters (number of ECTS earned, GPA, years passed since enrolment).
The allocation is carried on based on a merit ranking, built by a parameter named “grade”, defined as grade = average_mark + 0.1*[CFU*(years_since_enrolment – 1) – 30].
The allocation starts from those students who obtained the highest “grade” and will be assigned to their first choice, until the available positions are filled. The same is done for the following preferences. The students with lower “grade” might be excluded by all of their expressed preference; in this case, they will either be asked for additional preferences among a limited list of available activities or, in extreme cases, assigned automatically to a laboratory.
The students will receive further instructions along with the assignment.
Final exam
At the end of the laboratory activity, students are required to: write a scientific report on their activities, prepare a presentation for the final exam (maximum 10 minutes, maximum 15 slides). The professor supervisor of the activity will propose a mark (from 0 to 4) based on the students’ work and presentation. The ECTS for the laboratory activity are awarded at the moment of registration to the final exam, after the supervisor’s validation. During the final exam, the Committee, based on both the mark proposed by the supervisor and the students’ presentation, will assign a final mark (from -1 to 7, 8 in special cases, after the supervisor’s motivated request).
Note
As for all the aspects related to the Study Plan, students have to reach out to either the faculty members in charge of Transfers from different Study Programmes and Study Plans (Prof. Stefano Longhi, Prof. Marco Marangoni) or the Administrative office (in the person of Mrs. Daniela Rossi), whereas for additional information on the laboratory activities the students should contact the professors in charge of the project, as reported in the list.
