AST 248: The Search for Life in the Universe

Fall 2008

TuTh 12:50-2:10, Harriman 137

  • Instructor: James Lattimer lattimer@astro.sunysb.edu
      • Office: ESS 455
      • Hours: Tu, W, Th 2:30-3:30 PM
      • Additional hours will be scheduled in response to requests.
      • Additional help sessions will be arranged prior to major exams.
  • TA: Christopher.Corder@Stonybrook.edu
      • Office: S-215
      • Hours: M 2:30-4:30

    • Course URL is http://www.astro.sunysb.edu/lattimer/AST248/

    ANNOUNCEMENTS

    Homeworks are posted on this web page the week before they are due.

    Lecture notes are posted here.

    Grades are posted here.

    Here is a REVIEW FOR THE FIRST EXAM.

    • Required texts:"Life in the Universe" by Bennett, Shostak and Jakosky.
    • Supplementary (non-required) texts: "Rare Earth" by Ward and Brownlee, "Here Be Dragons" by Koerner and LeVay, and "The Science of Aliens" by Pickover. "Here Be Dragons" is out of print, but used copies should be available at the bookstore. All books are available at Stony Books across 25A from the railroad station.

      Considerable additional material will be presented in the lectures. Some, but not all this additional material, will be posted on this website. You are responsible for all material presented in class, whether or not it is posted.

    • Exams: There are three major exams, each counting 20%. Two are administered in class, 7 October and 11 November. The third is administered during the scheduled final exam period on 23 December at 11:00 AM in Harriman 137.

      80 minutes will be allowed to complete each exam, including the third one. The exams will be effectively non-cumulative and they will be curved. An ID is required to take an exam. The test questions will be multiple choice or true/false and will be machine graded; scantron sheets will be provided but you should bring #2 pencils and erasers. The exams are closed-book and no notes are permitted. Although some elementary math may be used, calculators, PDA's or computers will not be permitted.

      Curves for the Major Exams
      EXAM A A- B+ B B- C+ C C- D+ D F
      # 1 66 - 90 63 - 65 60 - 62 57 - 59 54 - 56 51 - 53 46 - 50 43 - 45 40 - 42 35 - 39 0 - 34
      # 2
      # 3


      Make-up exams require a valid documented excuse (doctor's note, obituary notice, etc.), and will be administered during Lattimer's office hours on a date to be arranged.

    • Homeworks: There will be 11 homework assignments, one for every week, except the first, that there is no exam. Homeworks will be posted the week before they are due. The homeworks also serve as study aids. The text of homeworks must be typed or word-processed, as it is too difficult for us to decipher handwriting. Often the answers will be multiple choice or involve straightforward algebra. Any math work for the homeworks may be handwritten if it is legible. The homeworks will be collected at the beginning of class on the due date; later submissions, such as at the end of class, will be downgraded (exceptions to this rule for justifiable reasons will be considered individually by the instructor. This policy is not inflexible, and lengthy absences for athletic, health or other documentable reasons will be permitted.). Obviously, it is to your advantage to complete the homework before it is due. Some of the homework questions will appear on the exams.

      The total of your 9 highest homeworks will count for 20% of your final grade. The 2 lowest or missing homework grades will be dropped.

    • Term Report: A term report will count 20% of the total grade. The due date for the report is October 16. Within a few weeks the papers will be returned and may be revised and resubmitted for consideration for a higher grade. The due date of a resubmission is December 4. Papers may also be submitted after October 16, but in this case they cannot be revised. The last date a paper may be submitted without penalty is November 6. For each week the paper is submitted after November 6, it will be downgraded by 1/3 letter grade.

      The length should be at least 8 double-spaced typed pages. Typing or word-processing is required. The subject of your paper must have direct relevance to the theme of the course but is otherwise up to you. Obviously, if you copy someone else's report, whether or not it was written for this course this semester, you will be held accountable and the case will be reported to the student judiciary. It is preferable for papers to be handed in directly to me. You may submit a plan or outline to me prior to completing your paper for comments/suggestions, but these will take me up to 3 days to return, so plan accordingly. Alternatively, you may discuss your paper with me during office hours or other arranged times at your convenience.

      To repeat: the report must have direct relevance to the central themes of the course, i.e., the origin of life or intelligence and the search for life or intelligence in the universe. It should not just be a paper just about radio astronomy, black holes, the Big Bang, string theory, or other peripheral topics. It must directly connect to the theme of the course. You should find at least three, and preferably more, recent (i.e., within the last 5 years) sources on which to base your report. Books and magazine or newspaper articles are acceptable, as are internet web pages if you identify your sources and conclude they are providing reliable information. TV documentaries are not acceptable sources of information. Your report should not use the lecture notes or the required or optional texts as primary references; this will lead to downgrading.

      Footnotes and detailed referencing are not required, but your paper must include a bibliography containing the sources from which material was taken. If you use a figure or table, you must cite the source in the figure or table. The papers will be graded on the basis of originality, effort, clarity, and the topic's relevance to the course. Book reports or rehashes of class notes or readings are not acceptable.

      Plagiarism - Copying from currently or previously submitted papers or homeworks, copying directly from the WWW without attribution, or copying part of an article or book without reference will result in an "F" for the report or homework and a complaint will be filed with the student judiciary.

    • Hints on how to succeed: 1, 2.

    • Overall Grade: Each exam and paper will count 20%, and the homework grade counts 20%. There will be no opportunity for extra credit assignments, except to revise your term report, so please don't ask.

      Grades for exams (raw scores), homeworks and papers will be posted here.

      The grades are arranged numerically according to your ID number; the number posted is not your ID number but is a code for it as I have described in lecture..

      Scores from previous semesters are here:

      Exam, Homework and Paper Grades for Fall 2007. Exam, Homework and Paper Grades for Fall 2006. Exam, Homework and Paper Grades for Spring 2006.

      Exam, Homework and Paper Grades for Spring 2005.

      Exam, Homework and Paper Grades for Fall 2004. Exam, Homework and Paper Grades for Spring 2004.

      Exam, Homework and Paper Grades for Spring 2003.

      If you have a physical, psychological, medical or learning disability that may impact your ability to carry out assigned course work, contact the staff in the Disabled Student Services office (DSS), 128 Educational Communications Center, 632-6748/9. DSS will review your concerns and determine with you what accommodations are necessary and DSS will advise me. All information and documentation of disability is confidential.

      Stony Brook University expects students to maintain standards of personal integrity that are in harmony with the educational goals of the institution; to observe national, state, and local laws and University regulations; and to respect the rights, privileges, and property of other people. Faculty are required to report to the Office of Judicial Affairs any disruptive behavior that interrupts their ability to teach, compromises the safety of the learning environment, and/or inhibits students' ability to learn.

      Each student must pursue his or her academic goals honestly and be personally accountable for all submitted work. Representing another person's work as your own is always wrong. Any suspected instance of academic dishonesty will be reported to the Academic Judiciary. For more comprehensive information on academic integrity, including categories of academic dishonesty, please refer to the academic judiciary website.

      HOMEWORKS

      The lecture schedule contained in the above link as a PDF file is approximate. Alterations will be announced in class. Because we will not follow the textbook rigoroously in sequence, the page numbers associated with each lecture are approximate. Additional material beyond the text will also be developed. Most of that material will be posted below.

      LECTURE NOTES (Green means no class; Black means an exam)

        September 2008
        Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
        31 1 2 3 4 5 6
        7 8 9 10 11 12 13
        14 15 16 17 18 19 20
        21 22 23 24 25 26 27
        October 2008
        28 29 30 1 2 3 4
        5 6 7 8 9 10 11
        12 13 14 15 16 17 18
        19 20 21 22 23 24 25
        26 27 28 29 30 31 1
        November 2008
        2 3 4 5 6 7 8
        9 10 11 12 13 14 15
        16 17 18 19 20 21 22
        23 24 25 26 27 28 29
        December 2008
        30 1 2 3 4 5 6
        7 8 9 10 11 12 13
        14 15 16 17 18 19 20
        21 22 23 24 25 26 27