ATM F445/ATM F645 - Atmospheric Dynamics

General Information:

Attendance: You should attend class regularly and use a text book of your choice related to Atmospheric Dynamics. Attendance during the in-class exercises is required and will be a part of your grade in this course. Excused absences are absences arranged and approved in advance or absences due to a documented emergency. Such documentation must be made immediately upon the student's return to class. Please understand that this is a college course - you are expected to be on time for class and have all the required material unpacked. A lateness or late unpacking disturbs the course and is unfair to your classmates.

Homework: Homework is due at the start of class on Tuesdays. These contributions are expected to be thorough and complete, reflecting the thoughts that you have put into your tasks. No late homework will be accepted except of proven emergency or sickness. It is the student's responsibility to deliver the homework in time. I strongly suggest that you plan and schedule your work early (and not wait until the last minute). I also recommend having backup systems in place so you can have all work completed on schedule. Getting work done on time is a key to early success in your career. A major complaint of employers is that faculty does not instill a sense of responsibility in students to have work done on time. Written homework is to be submitted in readable style, i.e. typed/printed or hand-written readably (when typed: double-spaced, using at least an 11-point font), with one-inch margins, and in hard copy format. It is simply too difficult to read smaller print, to imagine what unreadable letters or numbers mean, and too tricky to edit and make comments within single-spaced type. If you have not met these requirements, I will not accept the homework and will return it to you. Homework will not be accepted via e-mail or fax unless you make prior arrangements with me. It is part of your homework - even when not said explicitly - to read parts of books on the subjects of the class and to read the memos and copies provided.

In-class exercises: These exercises will often involve group work. They are an important part of your grade for this course to develop your ability to solve scientific tasks, to improve your understanding by applying the material you learnt in class, and they are a preparation for the examinations.

In-class presentations: You must always be able to present the tasks that you provided as homework in front of the class. This means that you will not be told in advance when you will be the person who presents the homework in front of the class. If you are not able to explain and reproduce the homework you provided, the points given for the respective part of the homework will be deducted. If you co-work in groups, any member of the group must be able to calculate the homework at the board in class. It is the student's responsibility to be aware of and to be prepared for each assigned task when it is due. You are expected to calculate in front of the class at least one time per semester. Give the person who is speaking your undivided attention. It is not only common courtesy, but whispering or talking can distract, annoy, and even intimidate students around you as well as myself. Generally, you should treat classmates as you would like, and expect, to be treated yourself.

Examinations: It is the students responsibility to find out when and where the examinations will take place and to be there in time. Only in case of emergency I will allow you to start later on the examination. As there are usually other examinations in the classroom later than your own examination the classroom has to be free in time. This means that I cannot give a prolongation if you come too late for whatever reasons.

Difference between ATM F445 and ATM F645: There is no difference between the grading of homework and examinations as the material you have to learn and you will be taught is the same. However, there will be tasks that are especially designed for graduate students and indicated as such. These assignments are only to be provided by the graduate students. These tasks will require skills that undergraduate students usually do not have yet (e.g., programming), i.e. it is ensured that undergraduates do not have a disadvantage in the examinations by not having done these "graduate students tasks". Since undergraduate students have less experience in presenting, a "clumsy" presentation of homework at the board will not automatically lead to a deduction of points for undergraduate students unless they give the impression that a bad presentation results from copying other students' homework.

Additional policies: All kinds of weapons will not be allowed in class. Due dates are firm, with the exceptions mentioned above as well as documented emergencies. If you have a disability and require any auxiliary aids, services or accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act, please contact me after class, see me in the my office, or call me during the first week of the semester to be able to define specific accommodation needs and have enough time for any necessary planning or preparation. If you have any kind of a physical or learning disability you must tell me about it. All disabilities are documented by UAF's Center for Health & Counseling and instructors receive a formal letter requesting that accommodation are made following student with disabilities. Any student who is an UAF sponsored athletic or who has other personal or situational difficulty that might affect class performance is invited to contact me in the first week of the semester (or as soon as such matters emerge) so that ways of accommodating the difficulty may be anticipated.

Grading Policy: This is a success-oriented course. My aim is for all students to meet their individual learning and grade goals. This does not mean, of course, that you can avoid working hard. Instead it means that (1) all students who do well in the in-class exercises, homework, and examinations will be rewarded accordingly and (2) the grade distribution will not be adjusted to make sure it fits a bell-shaped curve. I expect that (1) you aim to give your personal best in the course, and (2) use in-class exercises, homework, and examinations as an opportunity to demonstrate your understanding of the material. Each of you enters the course as an average student, i.e. with a "C" grade and proceeds to work from there. To obtain an "A" grade you will need to produce work that far exceeds my normal expectations. My normal expectations are regularly attending the classes, hard work evidence of time spent with the material and an ability to demonstrate understanding of all concepts.

Grading for ATM F445/ATM F645 will be on a curve and will follow UAF guidelines included in the following table:

The grade will be made up to equal parts by homework and in class presentations on one hand side and the examinations on the other. This means that it is impossible to receive a grade with having 100 % of the points obtained from homework and zero points from the examinations. To obtain a "C" 50 % of the points achievable from homework and 50 % achievable in the examinations must be obtained. You must not pass both examinations with 50 % of the points. You can put points from the first examination to the final by 50 %. This means that if you pass the first examination with 75 % of the points receivable you can put 12.5 % of the points to the final examination or if you do not achieve the 50 % in the first examination you can work harder to make up 50 % in the sum of the two examinations taking the reduction into account. The grade distribution for both examinations and homework is as follows:

Spring 2003 Schedule: I will distribute a tentative schedule for the entire semester. Learning is an interactive process and each class is individual. Even though I put a lot of thought into the sequence of topics, this schedule is tentative by purpose and subject to change as necessary due to availability of support materials, adaptation to specific needs of the class, etc. The schedule for this class will remain an on-going construction in light of what is accomplished in each class meeting. Since this course will be attended by both undergraduate and graduate students, it might be unavoidable to insert additional subjects or to explain subjects in more detail because of the different levels of the students. Departures from the schedule, such as additional readings, assignments, deadline changes, and activities, may be announced in class. These changes will take priority over the printed schedule to ensure that the goal of this class (see course objective) can be achieved by both undergraduate and graduate students. It is your responsibility to be in class and to keep up-to-date on whatever changes I make, or the class negotiates.