1st class done!

My first class, a first-year seminar called “Order and Chaos, Reconciling atomic randomness and the human world” was a big success. Some of the final projects students designed, carried out and presented:

• Gas permeation through a eggshell-like membrane (pictured below)
• Irreversibility of an explosion simulation
• Thermal equilibration and planet formation
• Equilibration of plucked strings

Some key take-aways:

• I can do this, and more importantly, I enjoy doing this even when it is difficult.
• I had two very different groups of students: one highly engaged and one disengaged
  • In neither case was it helpful to worry too much about something “going great” or “going poorly”
  • It was helpful to simply recognize if something went poorly, and think “can I easily address that next time?”
• Definitely want to ask to be called “Professor”