IAP 2015 Activities by Category - Physical Sciences: Hands-on

Zach Berta-Thompson, Torres Postdoctoral Fellow, MKI

Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up
Attendance: Participants welcome at individual sessions

Join us for daytime stargazing! We will have solar telescopes set up so you can safely observe our closest star, the Sun. Swing on by for a quick look, and feel free to stay and chat with MIT astronomers over cups of cocoa.

This activity is being co-sponsored with EAPS.

weather permitting

A complete listing of all IAP activities being offered by MIT's Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research is available here.

Sponsor(s): Kavli Institute for Astrophysics
Contact: Zach Berta-Thompson, 37-673, 617-253-5084, zkbt@mit.edu

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(Canceled) (Safely) Observe the Sun

Jan/14

Wed

10:30AM-12:00PM

Student Center Steps

First of three solar observing days -- weather permitting.

Zach Berta-Thompson - Torres Postdoctoral Fellow, MKI

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(Safely) Observe the Sun

Jan/21

Wed

10:30AM-12:00PM

Student Center Steps

Second solar observing day out of three -- weather permitting

Zach Berta-Thompson - Torres Postdoctoral Fellow, MKI

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(Safely) Observe the Sun

Jan/23

Fri

12:00PM-01:30PM

Student Center Steps

Final day of solar observing -- weather permitting.

Zach Berta-Thompson - Torres Postdoctoral Fellow, MKI

Nilanjan Chatterjee

Jan/16

Fri

01:00PM-03:00PM

54-1221

Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up

This session is to introduce new users to the JEOL JXA-8200 Superprobe. You will have hands-on experience (if time permits) on our electron microprobe equipped with enhanced imaging capabilities and learn about wavelength and energy dispersive spectrometry, back-scattered electron, secondary electron, cathodoluminescence, and elemental X-ray imaging. 

Sponsor(s): Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences
Contact: Nilanjan Chatterjee, 54-1216, x3-1995, nchat@mit.edu

Alexander Urban, Postdoctoral Associate (DMSE)

Enrollment: Limited: First come, first served (no advance sign-up)
Limited to 30 participants
Attendance: Participants must attend all sessions
Prereq: Participants are required to bring their own laptop computer

With ever increasing computational power at hand, today previously hard-to-study atomic-scale phenomena can be directly simulated based on the laws of physics.  Examples range from fundamental physics (e.g., electronic structure of graphene) over computational chemistry (e.g., reaction mechanisms) to predictive materials design (e.g., performance of battery materials).  This course will introduce students without any previous experience to the exciting field of atomistic simulations.  The course will encompass (i) a general introduction to the subject and to Linux-based computations, (ii) classes covering basic electronic structure theory, common approximate methods such as density-functional theory, and simulation techniques, and (iii) hands-on sessions during which students themselves will perform simulations.  All hands-on tutorials will be based on state-of-the-art open-source software, so that examples are reproducible and relevant.  No previous expertise will be required to follow the material and hands-on sessions.  We especially encourage participation of interested students with background in experimental research areas.

Sponsor(s): Materials Science and Engineering, Mechanical Engineering
Contact: Alexander Urban, 13-5026, 617-715-2180, alexurba@mit.edu

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Physical Sciences: Hands-on

	Jan/05	Mon	03:00PM-05:00PM	13-5101
	Jan/06	Tue	03:00PM-05:00PM	13-5101
	Jan/07	Wed	03:00PM-05:00PM	13-5101
	Jan/08	Thu	03:00PM-05:00PM	13-5101
	Jan/09	Fri	03:00PM-05:00PM	13-5101

Nongnuch Artrith - Postdoctoral Associate (MechE), Alexander Urban - Postdoctoral Associate (DMSE)

Dr. Gael Forget, Research Scientist

	Jan/15	Thu	10:00AM-11:30AM	54-1623
	Jan/16	Fri	10:00AM-11:30AM	54-1623
	Jan/22	Thu	10:00AM-11:30AM	54-1623
	Jan/23	Fri	10:00AM-11:30AM	54-1623
	Jan/29	Thu	10:00AM-11:30AM	54-1623

Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/12
Limited to 15 participants
Attendance: Participants must attend all sessions
Prereq: None

The analysis of observations and modeling are intertwined components of modern observational oceanogrphy. This class intends to inform students and postocs of the wealth of ocean data and models that are readily available to them at MIT - including, but not liminted to, collections of Argo profiles and MITgcm output. The class will proceed through lectures and interacitve MATLAB sessions. The use of models as part of low level data processing, and within higher level data synthesis, will be exposed during the lectures by taking examples from recent and ongoing research. The interactive MATLAB sessions will aim to enable attendees to take advantage of available data and models for their own research.

Sponsor(s): Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences
Contact: Gael Forget, 54-1423, (617) 452-2977, gforget@mit.edu

Dario Marrocchelli, Research Scientist, Nuclear Science and Engineering

Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/05
Limited to 20 participants
Attendance: Participants must attend all sessions

THIS ACTIVITY IS FULL. There is already a lengthy waitlist as well. No new enrollment requests please.

Cooking is one of the most fascinating (and rewarding!) applications of science and engineering. Indeed, few people realize that even the easiest recipe requires a working knowledge of important scientific principles spanning the fields of Chemistry, Physics, Materials Science and many more. The goal of this course is to show this connection between cooking and science. This course is designed to be a fun, hands-on experience in which students learn basic scientific principles by performing simple experiments with food. The first three lectures will cover ice-cream making, chocolate tasting, naked eggs and other fun activities. The instructor will draw connections between the concepts presented and his everyday scientific research in Materials Science. A tour of the Taza Chocolate factory is an optional encouraged activity to supplement the session on chocolate. 

Sponsor(s): MIT-SUTD Collaboration, Nuclear Science and Engineering
Contact: Dario Marrocchelli, NW13-221, (617) 710-2527, dmarrocc@MIT.EDU

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	Jan/07	Wed	06:00PM-07:30PM	W20 3rd fl. coffee., please bring a laptop
	Jan/14	Wed	06:00PM-07:30PM	W20 3rd fl. coffee.
	Jan/21	Wed	06:00PM-07:30PM	W20 3rd fl. coffee.

Dario Marrocchelli - Research Scientist, Nuclear Science and Engineering

Pierce Hayward, Technical Instructor

Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/01
Limited to 12 participants
Attendance: Participants must attend all sessions

Opportunity for hands-on personal experience testing materials at your own pace- The lab has four conventional testing machines so that students can get the direct, repetitive experience frequently missing from standard courses. The lab also has an attached machine shop where grips and specimens are made and students will get an introduction to lathe and mill operations.  Students will test provided specimens as an introduction and then make material specimens from stock and extract material from products, something mechanical engineers are called upon to do. Some students may be interested in testing particular materials, such as carabineers, 3D printed parts, ropes, chains, etc; this course can generally accommodate such special testing projects. Routine procedures for handling materials, such as heat treatment, for hardening and strengthening of steels and aluminums are part of the course. Bluing & tempering of strengthened steels is presented, along with hardness as an indicator of presumptive material strength. Comparisons are made among tensile, compression and bending results for determining material properties.

Sponsor(s): MIT-SUTD Collaboration, Mechanical Engineering
Contact: Pierce Hayward, 1-307, 617-253-3841, phayward@mit.edu

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	Jan/13	Tue	01:00PM-04:30PM	1-307
	Jan/14	Wed	01:00PM-04:30PM	1-307
	Jan/15	Thu	01:00PM-04:30PM	1-307
	Jan/20	Tue	01:00PM-04:30PM	1-307
	Jan/21	Wed	01:00PM-04:30PM	1-307

Lab will be open with flexible hours if students wish to test materials outside of class times.

Charles Settens, Research Specialist - CMSE XRD SEF

Jan/12

Mon

10:00AM-04:00PM

13-4041, Lunch break from 12pm-1pm

Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/07
Limited to 10 participants

This workshop will introduce set of general guidelines for structure refinement using the Rietveld (whole-profile) method. The practical rather than the theoretical aspects of each step in a typical Rietveld refinement are discussed with a view to guiding newcomers in the field. The topics covered include (1) data collection, (2) background contribution, (3) peak-shape function, (4) refinement of profile parameters, (5) Fourier analysis with powder diffraction data, (6) refinement of structural parameters, (7) use of geometric restraints, (8) calculation of estimated standard deviations (ESD's), (9) interpretation of R values and (10) some common problems and possible solutions.

Contact: Charles Settens, 13-4009A, 845-430-2584, SETTENS@MIT.EDU