Physics is subtle; it can be intimidating, especially to someone just starting out. So we, as two senior physics majors, are here to share our experiences and give a head start to underclassmen who are interested in pursuing physics! This 1 unit, low-workload, P/NP course is designed to acclimate students to UC Berkeley’s physics department and provide an enriching survey of the various subfields that coexist in physics. There are no prerequisites; the key is having the enthusiasm to participate in active discussions and ask questions! Looking for an extra unit plus a chill class? This is the one.

Keeping the COVID19 situation in mind, we have decided that all our meetings and discussions will be on Zoom (so there will be no in-person activities). We’ll first go over the plethora of physics courses that the university has to offer, including the major requirements, electives and relevant graduate courses. Then we shall recommend possible chronologies for taking these courses. Afterwards, we believe the students would be able to sketch out a tentative four-year plan, which would be especially helpful for major declaration. Next, we will dive into the realms of each subfield of physics, focusing separately on theory and experiment, by going over some of the intriguing contemporary research problems and hearing anecdotes from vastly experienced guest lecturers. Elective courses will be mapped to each subfield so students can identify courses that would be useful in their research endeavours. We will also present ways to find research opportunities and positions with professor-led groups at UC Berkeley and LBL. The class will culminate in a movie that peeks into the life of one of the greatest physicists ever - Stephen Hawking!

To pass this course (get a P), the student needs to turn in one-paragraph weekly summaries by the end of Fridays (18%), draft their tentative 4-year course plan by mid-September (22%), complete an end-semester two-page report on a field of interest in Physics (40%), and take no more than 2 unexcused absences (20%).

We are grateful to the guest lecturers for this semester : Prof. Hitoshi Murayama (multi-disciplinary Theoretical physicist), Prof. Ori Ganor (String Theorist), Dr. Richie Bonventre (Particle Physicist), Tiancong Zhu and/or Canxun Zhang (Condensed Matter Physicists), & Madeline Bernstein and/or Jack Roth (Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physicists).

If there are any queries regarding logistics or other enrollment concerns, please feel free to reach out to the facilitators (digvijayroyvarier@berkeley.edu & oceanzhou123@berkeley.edu) to discuss your options. Enrollment is limited to 15 students, so sign up soon if you’re interested!

First come, first served. Enter the course number "26698" to find this DeCal (Physics 98 001 - GRP 001) via Calcentral's Enrollment page. Make sure to select "ONE unit" when enrolling.