Physics Department
R.A. Carlsen Analysis Center
The Analysis Center is primarily devoted to computational physics. There are several computers, including five Pentium 4's running Mathematica, MatLab and other analysis software, plus graphics and scientific typsetting software (LaTeX). Students often gather here for study sessions, and some have their own desk in the room.
Depending on the time of year, the center table may be filled with a senior research project. Every student that receives a B.S. degree in physics at Bethel is required to do an independent research project worth three credits. The research is virtually always experimental in nature and is done under the mentorship of one of the physics faculty members. Each student makes an oral presentation of his or her research goals before starting, writes a high-quality report (several supervised drafts) on what he or she has accomplished, and makes a final oral presentation of his or her results to the faculty and interested students.
The R. A. Carlsen Analysis Center is named after the physicist who founded our department and spent twenty years teaching at Bethel. After more than ten years of retirement, R. A. still comes to work almost every day and maintains a small office in our department. The current faculty and students continue to be encouraged by his presence and enthusiasm.