Welcome to FIQWS 1001 on Energy.
I am Professor Gunner mgunner@ccny.cuny.edu
I expect that you are coming to this class with a variety of backgrounds and interests. I will try to pitch the material so you can attack it from a physics point of view, but also from finance, political science, architecture, history or other points of view. Assignments will try to allow for a range of approaches.
There will be two short research papers.
One is on how we use energy – this can range from heating water for tea to constructing a building (and many other things);
The second will be looking into a fuel we use.
These papers can consider historical examples, how government controls what we can buy or use, the physics of energy etc.
The main research paper should pick one of your topics and expand it to a paper that is well researched and makes some argument for changing or not how things are done.
Grading policy.
There are a limited number of grades A, B, C, (D), F.
You need to show up and participate to pass. I encourage you to speak up but I will use individual entries to chat during class. Do not turn on Zoom and walk away. That is rude and not honest.
If you show up and hand in the writing projects you should pass. Getting a better grade will reflect how well your paper works. You need a good topic; you need to make a clear argument; it should be well organized and not repetitive; using better sources of information and understanding them. To get an A you should think about being creative. You will need to pick your research topic – Choose something will interest you enough to dig deep and learn a lot to write a good paper.
Your work with Professor Bellamy is very important to your success in this class and in college. We will likely give you one grade for the two subjects. We will discuss your work in detail at the end of the semester.
I am a physics professor. Many of you are not science students. I need you to yelp if you feel it’s not working for you. The writing assignments can draw on other disciplines (economics, political science, history) and I will try to balance our reading assignments to reflect different ways to approach the topic. It’s a college class so it’s supposed to take new intellectual muscles. But as an interdisciplinary class I will try to respect that you all have different interests and different strengths.
I have put a set of questions about you in a Google Form
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdm5ke0Q0y4rHL5aZP28n3-_PghC_i1N0q6Pb0fbZpTjHfkbQ/viewform
It would be great if you filled it out before class starts.
Dropbox Link: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/451yemuwzigwva4/AAAQjEk7dkl-uoakHHtwqK-ua?dl…
FIQWS: T, Th 11-12:15: Zoom Link: https://ccny.zoom.us/j/93288107065
The Syllabus and all reading (except for Smil: Energy a Beginner’s Guide) are in the DropBox.
There is a file README-FIQWS-2021.docx in the DropBox. This has a table that will list all content as I add it to the DropBox during the semester.
Professor Bellamy syllabus
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LT6ki1mQRsfQDWuzPPcYiQq1bF-aI4dQRYE6pBXm7Vw/edit
https://energywriting.commons.gc.cuny.edu/.
Texts.
Please buy Vaclay Smil: Energy a Beginner’s guide.
This is $5.99 on Kindle. Please do that. I want us to have a text we can use together.
Suggested: There are several other inexpensive books by this author, which you can check out. If you are more interested in History than Physics you can get: Vaclav Smil: Energy and Civilization: A History ($15.99 Kindle book).
This class is organized around the DropBox folder.
FIQWS-Reading will have PDF files of interest.
Text: MacKay: Sustainable Energy without the hot air. This is a bit old (2008) so we will find some things have changed. But the way to dissect the problem is excellent.
Web site: https://www.withouthotair.com
The PDF is in the DropBox/FIQWS-Reading/Energy-texts/MacKay-sustainable energy.pdf
Suggested in DropBox: DropBox/FIQWS-Reading/ Walker_Energy, Plants & Man.pdfGood reference for a lot of the science, biochemistry, chemistry.
Syllabus: in the DropBox: Sylabus-2021.xlsx
FYI: CCNY places if you need help.
Student services has emergency monetary grants.
This is a crazy time. Student services has ramped up the availability of counseling.
CCNY IT resources are now critical. They are at https://www.ccny.cuny.edu/it
If you need a loaner computer or WiFi hotspot https://www.ccny.cuny.edu/it/distance-learning-resources-support-directory
Look under IT Forms to make the request.
Web page with ideas for students working at home with evolving technology.
https://online.columbia.edu/students/
Last Updated: 01/28/2021 10:23