First week of classes
Yesterday completed my first week of classes for the Fall 2006 term. I’m taking an interesting mix of classes:
Geometric and Physical Optics (PHYS 355) is an intermediate course on optics. There’s a lot of emphasis on the application of theoretical concepts using models. I didn’t know you could solve polarization problems using matrices.
Mathematical Methods in Physics (PHYS 384) is supposed to be the
hardest undergraduate course. This course compresses important math
topics into one. Throwing out some of the topics in this course makes
your look very smart at parties (integral transforms, green’s
functions and membrane vibrations.) 
Financial accounting (BUS 251) introduces accounting terminology, reading and understanding financial reports and the time value of money. The instructor is a professional (Certified Management Accountant), and conducts the class as an open discussion. If you want to know what exactly went wrong with WorldCom, this is the course to take. I’m very interested in how C-level executives run public corporations, so this should be an interesting course. I’m sure someone will bring up the recent misgivings by the boards of Apple, Dell and H-P (That someone might be me.)
Microelectronics II (ENSC 325) is my only engineering course this term. This course is about multistage amplifiers, integrated circuits and analog aspects of digital cicrcuits. This course used to be taught by the inventor of the Accelerometer that is in most IBM (Lenovo) laptops.
My hope is that I interact with a highly diverse set of people resulting in an enhanced learning experience.