SCI199Y

Hi everyone,

Sorry about the outage that occurred this afternoon, knocking out our course web site. Apparently this problem originated at the web hosting company. Their engineers worked hard to restore service as quickly as possible, and as of now the site has been back up and running consistently for several hours.

Future outages should be infrequent.

Cheers,
Prof. Peet.

Hi everyone,

Thanks for showing up to make today’s seminar class interesting and lively. For me it was one of the most fun classes we’ve had this semester. I hope you enjoyed it too.

If you have any remaining questions about string theory, please feel welcome to follow up by email, skype, phone or whatever else works.

Have a great Reading Week, and don’t forget to look after yourselves.

Cheers,
Prof. P.

Hi everyone,

Unfortunately I have just had to disappoint a student who wanted to schedule a private appointment with me to discuss SCI199Y matters outside of my regular SCI199Y office hours, on less than 48 hours’ notice. So this time feels like as good as any to remind you that you should expect your primary mechanism for talking to me in person to be my regular office hours: 4-6pm Wednesdays. I have held office hours consistently at that time the entire academic year. It is of course impossible for a SCI199Y student not to know about this scheduled timeframe, because I advertised it right from the first week of class. Please do be wary about scheduling other commitments during office hours – you may be doing yourself a disservice.

My schedule is jam-packed at present. For one committee alone, I have eight hours’ scheduled meeting time this week! That is separate from my normal teaching (undergraduate and graduate), research and service duties. Since this is such a busy time of the semester, if you wish to schedule a private appointment with me then you should try to do so one week in advance, or at bare minimum give me three business days’ warning. Please also bear in mind that in general a professorial schedule is not more flexible than a student schedule – it is a myth that professors sit around lazily gazing out the window thinking deep thoughts about the universe…

When you email me asking for a private appointment, please propose in advance a week’s worth of potential meeting timeframes. The more availability windows you provide in advance, the greater the chances that we can find something mutually agreeable.

I do love talking to students about physics, and I really like to help. If you came to my office hours regularly, you (like the students who already do) would know just how valuable that time can be. 

Cheers,

Prof. Peet.