Date Received

Fall 2008 Semester Assessment Report Form

DUE March 31, 2009

Directions: Please complete a form for each of the programs within your department. This form was designed to provide a format for assessment reporting and should not be used to limit the amount of information provided. Each box that is attached to each of the sections is designed to adjust to varying lengths. If you have any questions, please contact Dr. Bea Babbitt at x51506 or via email at: .

1. Program Information:

Program / M.S. in Physics
Department / Physics and Astronomy
College / Sciences
Program Assessment Coordinator / John W. Farley
Semester Data Collected / Fall 2008
Report Submitted by / John W. Farley
Phone/email / 895-3084
Date Submitted / March 30, 2009

2. According to the Assessment Plan for this program, what were the planned assessments to be conducted during the Fall 2008 semester ? You may want to copy and paste from this program’s assessment plan.

Which outcomes for this program were measured? / How did you measure the outcomes? / What results did you expect? If the students performed well what would their performance look like, i.e. percentages, means, or comparisons to a national standard?
_6_outcomes out of a total of 6 outcomes evaluated this semester.
1) Achieve mastery of the concepts, theories, and mathematics of physics at a graduate level appropriate to the needs and goals of each student attaining an M. S.
2) Develop and continue to enhance work habits, self-discipline, independence of thought, and willingness to take intellectual responsibility for the material and processes associated with their own learning.
3. Attain sophisticated oral and written communication skills appropriate for the scientific and technological workplace.
4. Acquire thorough and intimate understanding of modern physical laboratory equipment and practice.
5. Be directedly involved in original (M.SM) theoretical, computational, or experimental research at the forefront of modern physics.
6. Continue to obtain a more sophisticated and advanced understanding of basic concepts in other areas of science and mathematics to give breadth of perspective and insight when initiating a career as researcher or teacher. / Course grades in all PHYS 6xx and 7xx courses EXCEPT
651, 781, 782, 796, 797, or 799.
Course grades in PHYS 796. Gradate Seminar.
Course grades in PHYS 781, Thesis Research.,
PHYS 796, Graduate Seminar, and
PHYS 797, Masters Thesis. Successful defense of Masters’ Thesis.
Student co-authorship of papers and presentations.
Course grades in laboratory course PHYS 651, Modern Scientific Instrumentation
Enrollment in PHYS 797, Masters’ Thesis, and satisfactory progress.
Successful defense of masters’ thesis.
Student co-authorship of papers and presentations.
Course grades in science and math courses outside PHYS courses. / Students are expected to achieve grades of B- or better.
Students are expected to achieve grades of B- or better.
Students are expected to pass PHYS 781 and achieve grades of B- or better (796, 797).
Expect students to be co-authors of papers and presentations.
Students are expected to achieve grades of B- or better.
Those students who participate in research are expected to have successful research experience.
Expect student co-authorship of papers and presentations.
Students are expected to achieve grades of B- or better.

3. Results, conclusions, and discoveries. What are the results of the planned assessments listed above? What conclusions or discoveries were made from these results? Describe below or attach to the form.

Results, conclusions, and discoveries
Results
1) For the Fall 2008 semester, grades in these courses were as follows:
Course B- and above below B-
PHYS 604 not offered
PHYS 614 not offered
PHYS 622 not offered
PHYS 624 not offered
PHYS 626 not offered
PHYS 631 not offered
PHYS 641 4 0
PHYS 642 not offered
PHYS 661 not offered
PHYS 662 not offered
PHYS 667 not offered
PHYS 668 not offered
PHYS 681 2 0
PHYS 682 not offered
PHYS 683 3 0
PHYS 685 not offered
PHYS 700 not offered
PHYS 701 not offered
PHYS 702 16 0 (+ 1 incomplete)
PHYS 703 not offered
PHYS 705 not offered
PHYS 707 cancelled
PHYS 708 not offered
PHYS 711 6 0
PHYS 712 not offered
PHYS 721 not offered
PHYS 722 not offered
PHYS 723 not offered
PHYS 724 not offered
PHYS 725 not offered
PHYS 726 not offered
PHYS 727 not offered
PHYS 728 not offered
PHYS 731 4 0
PHYS 732 not offered
PHYS 741 not offered
PHYS 771 not offered
PHYS 777 3 0
2) Course B- or higher below B-
PHYS 796 10 0
3) Course B- or higher below B-
PHYS 781 not offered
PHYS 797 N/A
4) Modern Scientific Instrumentation
Course B- or higher below B-
PHYS 651 5 0
5) Course Grade
Course Satisfactory Unsatisfactory
Thesis defense 0 0
Co-authorship on papers and presentations. See appended list of graduate student co-authors on publications.
6) non-PHYS courses
Course B- or higher below B-
1 0
The program is running successfully.

4. Use of Results. What program changes are indicated? How will they be implemented? If none, describe why changes were not needed.

No major changes are indicated, because the program is running successfully.

5. Dissemination of results, conclusions, and discoveries. How and with whom were the results shared?

The tabulated results of the assessment and a written evaluation of them will be made available annually in the department office. Assessment results will be distributed to Department faculty and discussed at a faculty meeting. Results will be forwarded to the College of Sciences Dean's office.

2008 publications of UNLV physics and astronomy faculty (bold) co-authored with graduate students(marked with *)

Andrew L. Cornelius, Ravhi S. Kumar, Mathew K. Jacobsen*, Eric D. Bauer, John S. Sarrao and Zachary Fisk. (2008). Magnetic ordering in UCu2Si2 at high pressure. Physica B: Condensed Matter 403(5-9): 940-942.

Mathew K. Jacobsen*, Ravhi S. Kumar, Gang Cao, John J. Neumeier and Andrew L. Cornelius. (2008). High pressure structural studies on SrRuO3. Journal of Physics and Chemistry of Solids 69(9): 2237-2239.

Allen L. Johnson, Daniel Koury*, Jennifer Welch, Thao Ho, Stacy Sidle, Chris Harland, Brian Hosterman*, Umar Younas*, Longzhou Ma and John W. Farley. (2008). Spectroscopic and microscopic investigation of the corrosion of D-9 stainless steel by lead-bismuth eutectic (LBE) at elevated temperatures. Initiation of thick oxide formation. Journal of Nuclear Materials 376(3): 265-268.

Patricia E. Kalita*, Andrew L. Cornelius, Krystyna E. Lipinska-Kalita, Cédric L. Gobin and Hanns-Peter Liermann. (2008). In situ observations of temperature- and pressure-induced phase transitions in TiH2: Angle-dispersive and synchrotron energy-dispersive X-ray diffraction studies. Journal of Physics and Chemistry of Solids 69(9): 2240-2244.

Enwei Liang, Judith L. Racusin, Bing Zhang, Bin-Bin Zhang* and David N. Burrows. (2008). A comprehensive analysis of Swift XRT data. III. Jet break candidates in X-ray and optical afterglow light curves. Astrophysical Journal 675(1): 528-552.

Elizabeth A. Tanis*, Hubertus Giefers and Malcolm F. Nicol. (2008). Novel rhenium gasket design for nuclear resonant inelastic x-ray scattering at high pressure. Review of Scientific Instruments 79(2): 023903.

Sergey N. Tkachev, Michael Pravica, Eunja Kim, Edward Romano* and Philippe F. Weck. (2008). High-pressure studies of 1,3,5,7-cyclooctatetraene: Experiment and theory. Journal of Physical Chemistry A 112(45): 11501-11507.