Guo Liping and Liu Chuansheng
(School of Physical Science and Technology, Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei 430072)
Abstract: This paper introduces some ideas and attempts of the author in guiding physics undergraduates to carry out graduation project. According to the graduation destination and personal interests of different students, combined with the author's scientific research needs, this paper puts forward the topic selection, research objectives and basic tasks to be completed in graduation design. Combine the content of graduation design with continuing to study for a postgraduate degree after graduation, with studying abroad, and with the professional nature of participating in work, so that students can get basic scientific research and technical training as much as possible, and lay the foundation for a smooth transition to work as soon as possible after graduation.
[Keywords:] graduation design; Academic research; Postgraduate degree; Studying abroad; vocational development
【 China Library ClassificationNo. 】 G642.477
[Document ID] A
[ArticleNo.]1005-4634 (2012) 06-0049-03
Introduction to 0
As the last comprehensive link of university teaching, graduation project is an extremely important learning and training process for students. The purpose of graduation project is to cultivate students' ability to solve practical problems by comprehensively applying what they have learned. For science and engineering students, improving the quality of graduation design is an important link for students to improve their skills and acquire preliminary scientific research ability. The practical problems faced by different students in the future may be very different. According to statistics, in the past five years, about 65% of the undergraduates majoring in physics in the School of Physical Science and Technology of Wuhan University continued to study for graduate degrees after graduation, of which 20% went abroad to study, while other students took up jobs. For these students who go to work in different places after graduation, it is very meaningful to carry out some targeted scientific research and technical training as much as possible in the graduation design stage, so that students can transition to work as soon as possible after graduation. From 2008 to 20 12, the author * * * instructed 23 physics graduate students to carry out graduation projects, all of which came from the scientific research projects undertaken, requiring students to participate in a certain part or link of the scientific research projects. This paper introduces some thoughts, attempts and effects of the author in guiding physics undergraduates to carry out graduation project.
1 Combination of graduation design content and studying abroad
Among the undergraduates under the guidance of the author, many have been admitted to foreign universities for further study, such as Xu Shuigang, a 2009 student, and Zhou, a 20 12 student, who was admitted to Stony Brook University in the United States. Relatively speaking, undergraduates in domestic universities study theoretical knowledge systematically and deeply, but the cultivation of practical ability is relatively weak; I have a solid grasp of traditional knowledge, but I don't know much about the latest developments in the frontier of the discipline, and my professional knowledge and discipline vision are not broad enough. For these students who are about to go abroad for further study, it is not difficult to study abroad, but the lack of research ability is even more difficult, so it is urgent to transition and adapt to the research work of foreign universities as soon as possible. When guiding these undergraduates' graduation design, they pay special attention to the cultivation of literature research ability and practical ability.
In terms of literature research, students are required to do systematic and in-depth literature retrieval at home and abroad, complete the retrieval of English papers included in international authoritative databases SCI and EI, especially the retrieval of papers from major international and domestic professional journals and top international authoritative journals in this discipline, and obtain the latest and most authoritative documents on research topics, as well as key documents and early basic documents in the development process. On the basis of fully mastering the literature, first read the reading chinese literature, then read the English literature, and make a literature reading report, and discuss the literature in groups to help students understand the content of the literature. On this basis, write a research report and make a literature review report in the group. Through complete literature research, extensive literature reading, in-depth literature discussion and systematic literature review, students not only greatly broaden their horizons, but more importantly, greatly improve their ability to acquire knowledge, laying a good foundation for quickly adapting to foreign graduate life in the future.
For example, the graduation project of Wuhan University's Grade 20 12 Student Week is entitled "On-line Device of Ion Gun and Electron Microscope in Wuhan University". The device studied is the only one in China, and there are less than ten similar devices running in the world at present. The device can be used to study the microstructure change process of materials in situ at the ion irradiation implantation site, and it is a unique equipment for studying the interaction between ion beams and substances. This student not only made a comprehensive survey of the existing devices in the world, but also inspected all the similar devices in the past 50 years after Pashley and Pre sland first reported in 196 1 that the damage of Au irradiated by electron beam was observed in situ by 80 kV transmission electron microscope. Through the complete investigation of the development process of this kind of device, we can fully and deeply understand the technical characteristics, key technologies, technical difficulties, main applications and future development trends of this kind of device, and improve the ability of literature research, reading and summary.
There is often a misunderstanding about the cultivation of hands-on ability, that is, to cultivate students' ability to operate instruments and equipment. The author believes that it is not enough to know how to operate, but more attention should be paid to the training of equipment structure, component processing, perfect function and troubleshooting. For example, Zhou's graduation project tasks are to draw working drawings, improve vacuum, adjust ion beam path and measure ion beam current. First of all, students are required to make engineering drawings of devices, which is very difficult for a physics student who has never been exposed to engineering drawings, but his research direction when he goes to the United States for graduate studies often involves drawing problems. (Graduation design) Recognizing the importance of engineering drawing for its future research work, the student actively taught himself, mastered the basic computer drawing technology within 1 month, and drew the drawings that meet the basic requirements, including the drawings of the main components of the device: ion source, focusing lens, double deflection plate, four-knife slit, diaphragm, interface between ion beam and electron microscope, vacuum interface, and assembly according to the actual geometric layout of ion optical path transmission. In the process of drawing drawings, taking advantage of the equipment failure, the equipment was disassembled and the dimensions of each component were measured. Through this process, students not only cultivate their drawing ability, but also have a more intuitive understanding of the principle of the device, laying the foundation for the later improvement and debugging of the device. For example, the transition plate between the condenser and the deflector is improved to improve the vacuum degree of the device; The adjustment of ion transmission optical path is completed by laser collimation. When measuring the beam current, it was found that the focusing high voltage could not be applied, and the ignition phenomenon appeared. The high-voltage shaking table test found that the resistance of the middle tube of the focusing lens to the ground was very low, so it was judged that the middle tube was faulty. After taking it off, it was found that the cylinder was really broken, and it returned to normal after treatment. By participating in the beam test, satisfactory measurement results are obtained. Through these processes of drawing, processing, improvement, repeated disassembly, repeated measurement, troubleshooting and repeated debugging. Students' ability has been exercised, and at the same time, they have a real understanding of the necessary qualities such as' meticulous, persistent and innovative' needed for physical experimental research in actual scientific research.
2 graduation design content and studying for a domestic postgraduate degree
Among the undergraduate graduates directed by the author, some students have been admitted or recommended by domestic universities or research institutions to pursue postgraduate degrees, including doctors and masters directed by the author. For this kind of students, the author closely links the research content of their graduation project with the research content during their upcoming postgraduate study, so as to help students enter the postgraduate stage as soon as possible. In fact, it is difficult to have time for research because of the heavy learning tasks of the first-year postgraduate degree course. Most students didn't have time to devote themselves to scientific research until the second year. Therefore, there is a gap of one and a half years from the fourth year of college to the second year of graduate students. However, if you can get good scientific research training during the graduation project, it is possible for graduate students to do some research work while studying the course in the first year. According to this idea, the undergraduate graduates who are going to continue their postgraduate studies are trained in scientific research, and good results have been achieved. For example, Li Tie, a 2008 undergraduate, was admitted to the author's doctoral program. His research direction is the application of nuclear technology in materials science, including synchrotron radiation and ion implantation. Therefore, the graduation project topic assigned to this student is "Synchrotron radiation study of Si 1-xMnx diluted magnetic semiconductor", and its task is to analyze the local structure of magnetic semiconductor prepared by Mn doping transition metal ions by using synchrotron radiation X-ray fine structure spectrum (XAFS). The academic background is that diluted magnetic semiconductors have both ferromagnetic and semiconductor properties and are the key materials for spintronics in the future. Ferromagnetism can be produced by implanting Mn with a peak concentration of about 1% into silicon single crystals and other materials, so a small amount of doped Mn atoms plays a decisive role in the production of magnetism. Like all other physical properties, this magnetism comes from the change of its structure. Therefore, studying the local structure around Mn atoms can provide key information for understanding the ferromagnetic mechanism, and XAFS method is a unique technology to study the local structure. During the undergraduate period, the student systematically studied the XAFS method, but did not study practical problems with this method. During my graduation design, I learned and mastered the data processing methods and software of XAFS through practical application in magnetic semiconductors. Through the processing and analysis of the actual data, I not only obtained the results of the local structure of doped atoms in several samples, but also reasonably explained the origin of their magnetic microstructures, which deepened my understanding of this unique experimental method. After entering the graduate school, I immediately went to Shanghai Light Source and Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Facility to do XAFS experimental measurement, became more familiar with the experimental technology and obtained new experimental data. After summarizing the undergraduate graduation thesis and the supplementary work during the postgraduate period, the student published an SCI paper in the international professional journal Vacuum, which successfully realized the organic connection between the undergraduate graduation project and the postgraduate research work.
3. The content of graduation design is combined with work.
Under the guidance of the author, some graduates directly take part in the work. Their main destination for graduation is the employer, and they will mainly engage in technical work combined with production practice, rather than basic research in the laboratory. For these students, how to make them transition from college courses to practical work as soon as possible is also a problem worth thinking about. According to the actual nature of work after graduation, the author arranges the contents and tasks of graduation design in a targeted manner. At the same time, as a physics student in a comprehensive university, the most basic scientific research training is also indispensable. For example, Zhou Guoqin, a 2008 graduate, will go to Huawei for software development after graduation. The graduation project given to him by the author is "Study on Mossbauer Spectrum of Low Activation Steel", and the main task is to fit and analyze Mossbauer Spectrum with professional software MOSFUN and MBT. At the same time, it is required to complete the sample preparation with the thickness less than 30 microns, Mossbauer spectrum measurement and physical analysis of the fitting results. Through the graduation project, the student mastered the data processing method of Mossbauer spectrum and the use of professional software, and had a deeper understanding of the algorithm used in the software. This kind of training is beneficial to his future software development.
4 conclusion
This paper introduces some thoughts and attempts of the author in guiding the graduation thesis of physics undergraduates. Mainly according to the students' destination after graduation, the contents and tasks are arranged in a targeted way, so as to improve the students' literature research ability, hands-on ability, data processing ability, analysis ability and scientific research paper writing ability, and lay the foundation for a smooth transition to post-graduation work as soon as possible. Through graduation project, some undergraduates published SCI papers in international professional journals as the first author, and some undergraduates obtained authorized utility model patents as the first author, which shows that these attempts have achieved good results. For undergraduate graduates, graduation project is only a short period of more than three months, accounting for only a small part of the four-year study time in university, but it is the last work of university study and a good opportunity to carry out some basic scientific research and technical training, which is worthy of continuous thinking, exploration and improvement, so as to make the last pass for improving students' scientific and technological quality.