Partial Differential Equations in Advanced Undergraduate Physics

几年来，劳伦斯大学(Lawrence University)物理专业本科生的许多中级课程都包含了培养创造性和独立使用复杂计算资源的技能的部分。在这个项目中，我们采取了下一个自然的步骤，在两门高级课程(物理数学方法和高级电磁理论)中增加了计算组件，从而拓宽了可行的高级独立研究的范围，并引入了对实习科学家和工程师来说日益重要的工具。具体地说，我们正在结合波传播、流体动力学、弹性力学、量子力学和电磁理论中的2D和3D问题的数值处理。为了配合这项课程的发展，我们在现有的局域网络上增加了两个3D图形工作站和一台彩色打印机。这种硬件允许快速、彻底、图形化地检查由本地执行的数值模拟产生的大型数据文件，或者更经常地，通过网络访问国家超级计算机中心之一进行远程检查。

For several years, many of the intermediate courses for undergraduate physics majors at Lawrence University have included components that nurture skills to use sophisticated computational resources creatively and independently. In this project we are take thing the next natural step by adding computational components to two advanced courses (Mathematical Methods of Physics and Advanced Electromagnetic Theory), thereby broadening the spectrum of feasible senior-level independent studies and introducing tools that become daily more crucial to the practicing scientist and engineer. Specifically, we are incorporating numerical treatment of 2D and 3D problems in wave propagation, fluid dynamics, elasticity, quantum mechanics, and electromagnetic theory. To support this curricular development, we have added two 3D graphics workstations and a color printer to our existing local area network. This hardware allows fast, thorough, graphical examination of large data files resulting from numerical simulations carried out locally or, more often, remotely via network access to one of the national supercomputer centers.