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Physics, Face Masks, and a Fun Exercise
The microscopic world is deeply unintuitive, in large part due to the incessant randomness of Brownian motion. I was reminded of this when a colleague (Ben McMorran) pointed me to the timely topic of...
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Comments on “Circular Analysis”—“Ten common statistical mistakes…” #6
Next in our series of commentaries on Makin and Orban de Xivry’s Common Statistical Mistakes, #6: Circular Analysis. (Previous posts: #1-2, #3 , #4, #5.) I was thinking of skipping this one entirely....
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Comments on “p-Hacking (Flexibility of Analysis)”—“Ten common statistical...
This week’s commentary on Makin and Orban de Xivry’s Common Statistical Mistakes covers #7: Flexibility of Analysis: p-Hacking. (Previous posts: #1-2, #3 , #4, #5, #6.) I feel like this has been...
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Comments on “Failure to Correct for Multiple Comparisons”—“Ten common...
This week’s installment of comments on Makin and Orban de Xivry’s Common Statistical Mistakes deals with #8: Failure to Correct for Multiple Comparisons. (Previous posts: #1-2, #3 , #4, #5, #6, #7.)...
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Comments on over-interpreting results, correlation and causation, and...
This week: the last of my commentaries on Makin and Orban de Xivry’s Common Statistical Mistakes! (Previous posts: #1-2, #3 , #4, #5, #6, #7, #8.) I’m lumping together comments on “Mistake #9”...
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A Puzzle about Paris and Climate
Last week, I gave the final exam for my Physics of Energy and the Environment class, a course for non-science-major undergraduates. Nearly all of the questions were answered correctly by a majority of...
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Course Recap: Physics of Energy and the Environment, Winter 2021
In the quarter that recently ended I taught The Physics of Energy and the Environment, a course for non-science-major undergraduates at the University of Oregon (UO) that I’ve taught before, though...
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Welcome to Biophysics! — A “Resource Letter”
Update June 18, 2021: A preprint of my article is here. Over a year ago, I was invited to write a “resource letter” on Biological Physics for the American Journal of Physics, a very good...
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Graphs about out-of-state college students and money
When I graduated from the University of California at Berkeley in 1997, non-California-residents made up about 10% of the undergraduate population [1]; the fraction now is 25% [2]. Here at the...
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Course Recap: Physics of Solar and Renewable Energies, Spring 2021
Before my memories grow even dimmer I should write down some thoughts about the class I taught Spring term: The Physics of Solar and Renewable Energies. Like its companion course, The Physics of...
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Image Analysis: Reflections on a New Course
This past term (Fall 2021) I taught a course on image analysis. It was a new course — not just new for me but completely new, though it grew out of an informal image analysis class I’ve taught “off...
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The perils of online learning, in one graph
I’ll touch on the important question of how students learn from in-person vs. remote courses by showing just one graph based on the class I taught last term. Adding a bit of commentary, I note a...
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What does the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle have to do with microscopy?
A more technical post than most. If the symbol and the equation look familiar to you, you’ll be fine. If not, you may still like the post, but in case you’re about to depart I’ll put my customary link...
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Books I Like about Energy, Climate, and Civilization
I regularly teach classes on energy, environment, climate, etc., for non-science major undergraduates at the University of Oregon. Inspired by some blog comments elsewhere, I thought I’d list list...
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The Case For, and the Case Against, “The Case Against Education”
Four years ago, I read Bryan Caplan’s The Case against Education: Why the Education System Is a Waste of Time and Money, a polemic about the form of education in the U.S. I disagreed strongly with a...
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Image Analysis Course Recap, Fall 2022
This past term, Fall 2022, I taught for the second time a course I created on image analysis. (Syllabus.) The structure and content were similar to last year’s — last year went well, and I put lots of...
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Majors at [Your Ad Here] U. of Oregon, 2011-2021
About four years ago, I looked into data on how US college students’ choice of majors had changed since 2011 and whether the University of Oregon (UO) differs notably from other R1 (Carnegie “Very...
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10 Double the number of Computer Science majors / 20 GOTO 10
In my last post, I plotted trends in various college majors, comparing how the numbers of degrees awarded in a range of subjects have grown or shrunk over the decade 2011-2021. I compared my...
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College Major Trends: The Movie
Which college majors have exploded in popularity over the past decade and which have shrunk? Over the past two posts (#1, #2) I’ve discussed my analyses of the number of degrees awarded in various...
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“Eighty percent of success is showing up”— Physics of Energy and the...
The quote in the title is from Woody Allen, and you’ll see below why it’s appropriate for this course recap. This past term I again taught “Physics of Energy and the Environment,” a class for...
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