PSI Program

The PSI program is a unique opportunity to learn theoretical physics of a high standard. Within the program people decided to create this special, student-run seminar to enable all PSI students to share their knowledge and practice their presentation skills.

Background

Presentations will be given weekly in the Sky Room. The typical time will be 7pm - 8:30pm on Wednesday nights. The style of presentation will be a casual, open lecture on the blackboard. Students are encouraged to ask questions and make jokes throughout.

Concept

We are looking for volunteers to give introductions (which can be between 10 and 120 minutes - depending on the style, lecture or informal discussion) to different interesting topics, concepts, formulations, and tools. Speakers who are presenting a topic should have some depth of understanding and should try to communicate their knowledge as clearly and articulately as possible. In this manner, students from different backgrounds can all gain something from each PSIminar.

IMPORTANT REMARK

The idea is really to exploit the fantastic spirit of our wonderful community to enable everybody to learn something new. If you learn something new, the best way to deepen your understanding (and also find out where you misunderstood something) is to explain it to others and discuss it with them. Therefore, we really want to stress that this seminar is not about competition or showing up, but just about increasing your knowledge. Nobody expects fully prepared, clear and self-contained presentations!

Furthermore, we would really like to encourage people to come even if they already know something (or a lot) about a topic - because this enables them to help during the discussion to clarify ideas (and maybe even they learn some new ideas or points of view).