Course Syllabus

Grading Policy

•  For undergraduate students:

• Homework (averaged)........................................ 33%
• Mid-term and final exams @ 33.3% each ........... 67%
• Proposal writing and oral presentation ............. Extra credits

•  For graduate students:

• Proposal report .................................................. 15%
• Proposal oral presentation ................................. 15%
• Mid-term and final exams @ 30% each ............... 60%
• Homework (averaged)......................................... 10%

Final grades will be (tentatively) issued according to the traditional grading scheme: A-90%, B-80%, C-70% and so on. I reserve the right to modify this scheme at my discretion, but any such modification will be in such a way as to lessen the requirements for a particular grade.

Homework

Homework will be assigned electronically every couple of weeks, usually on Tuesday and due one or two weeks after.   These assignments are mandatory.   Each student must submit his/her own work for a grade.   Assignments will be due in class on the due date.

Exams

Two exams (one mid-term, one final) will be given.   All exams will be open book and must be completed independently.   The date, time and duration of the exams will be confirmed in class.   No make-up exams will be given.

Proposal writing and oral presentation (grad. stud. only)

For students who will become leading scientists and engineers in either private industries or academia, it is survival to get acquainted at an early stage of their career to the writing of research proposals.   Without good writing and presentation skills, your chance of receiving support for an innovative idea will be limited.   This exercise may appear daunting at first because it requires more than simply reviewing and concisely reporting a series of papers on a topic.   Basic rules which have to be followed in the writing and presentation of a research proposal will be addressed in a couple of lectures in this course.   The guidelines given to the students will be the Honda Initiation Grant guidelines, which can be downloaded at:

http://corporate.honda.com/innovation/initiation_grant/index.aspx?id=application

Selected topics related to the Mechanical Behavior of Advanced Materials will be suggested by the instructor after mid-term.   This exercise is mandatory for graduate students only; however, undergraduate students are also encouraged to submit and present a proposal for extra credits in the final grade.   Grading will be based on (1) a final report due at the end of semester, and (2) an oral presentation.   Each student will be given 10-15 mins to present his or her idea in front of the class.   Further details on the procedure will be given later in the course of the semester.