Equipment benches for “Instrumentation in the Physical Sciences” course

Tim Chupp, Physics | 2022-2023


A new elective lab course “Instrumentation for the Physical Sciences” will be taught beginning Winter 2023. This course will teach about instrumentation essential to 21st century R&D to students across the sciences in LSA and COE. Students will learn about the basic instrumentation used in state-of the art research labs and technical settings they will encounter in post-graduate experiences including graduate school, industry, and business. This is a fully hands-on class with basic test equipment and interfaced computer provided at “benches” used by teams of two or three students; the term will conclude with a capstone team project that solves a specific technical problem with the knowledge gained during the term. This proposal requests funding for acquisition of the equipment and materials for eight “benches” with the tools used in modern research labs and additional state-of-the-art instruments for the measurements and available for final projects. The cost will be shared by the Physics Department and faculty discretionary funds.