Through a generous grant from HP we have 20 pc tablets available for students and teachers. The mobile technology is used for classroom work, workshops and in general on daily basis for several tasks where it is easier to take notes using this technology.

The MARIACHI summer workshop is designed for physics and research teachers, as well as high school students interested in pursuing research projects. The workshop is a combination of training, brainstorming, and hands-on sessions. We review the science reach of the experiment, review the equipment that is available to schools, the experiment's cyberinfrastructure, and the data collected. We use a secure wiki and email, and other cyber-communication tools.

The highlight of the data analysis activity is the use of tablet PCs. The tablets provide students with an interactive and mobile tool for data manupulation. Through brainstorming sessions the goal of the workshop is to catalyze groups around common research interests and establish tracking mechanisms to monitor progress. Students come away from the workshop with a research plan and the beginnings of a project.

More information on Mariachi project, please refer to MARIACHI Research Pages and Mariachi Main Page.

A BNL meteor candidate count plot from the workshop.

ESE 340 Basic Communication Theory

The course deals with the basics of communication systems. But the theoretical explanations are accompanied by the practical examples simulated using Octave. The tablets serve as a smart tool for taking notes and running simulations simultaneously. Students also get a lot more flexibility while presenting their work exactly the way they want.

Coming soon:WSE187 Cosmic Rays and Particle Detectors/Basic Processing of Radio Signals

Mike Marx and Monica Bugallo teach a new crop of MARIACHI's in WISE 187 in Spring 08 using tablets from HP.
The Basic Processing of Radio Signals module of the WISE course is designed for students to explore and understand the radar initiative of MARAICHI experiment. The use of tablets will enable students to communicate remotely and share their ideas while performing experiments. The data analysis is also made more interactive by the use of tablets.The tablet tools give wiki-page design a entirely new creative dimension.

Lab notes for ESE 340 prepared by a tablet.

Contact

Helio Takai
Physics Department
Building 510A
Brookhaven National Laboratory
Upton, NY 11973

phone: (631) 344 2812
e-mail: takai-at-bnl-dot-gov

Monica Bugallo
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Light Engineering Bldg. Room 245
Stony Brook University,
Stony Brook, NY 11794

phone: (631) 632 8395
e-mail: monica-at-ece-dot-sunysb-dot-edu