Teaching Philosophy

J.V. Acrivos, Professor of Chemistry SJSU
A. Teaching is done at two levels:
Undergraduate and graduate students are trained one-on-one in research in Solid State Chemistry. Postdoctoral fellows are also mentored in research. The
1997-1999 research group is:
Charles M. Burch, An T. Nguyen, Long Nguyen, Thaddeus Norman, Tuan H. Vu, Quang van Le, Anglica Alvarado, K.K. Singh, Thule Tran, N. B. Nguyen, Mike Rose, Rizwana Shaiki.
B. Classroom lectures train students in three graduate and undergraduate areas:
Physical Chemistry
Solid State Chemistry
Computational Chemistry
All lectures, term papers and homework assignments follow logic scientific discourse in 4 parts:
I. The introduction:
(a) identifies the system to be discussed,
(b) discusses the data available to describe said system,
and
(c) presents the objective of the lecture/question/problem to be answered.
II. The prerequisite knowledge is summarized briefly.
III. The objective is achieved using all the prerequisite knowledge.
IV. The physical significance of the results are described.
C. How to obtain help from www:
Advising: For further questions, please return to front page, select guest book, write questions in appropriate format for course. Responses to registered students are sent within 24 h during the regular week, none the day before examinations are due.
D. Information:
access the current subject taught (in bold letters below). This links to the appropriate information (green sheets) and the latter to specific lecture modules.
Advising BS in Chemistry with concentration in Materials Science.
Fall 1999 gives current assignment and examination dates. These include hints for all students to find as they arise from questions that students have presented during office hours and by e-mail. The bold letters identify the current courses.
CHEM11A and 11B: Freshman Chemistry for Engineering Students, second semester.
CHEM160: Introductory Physical Chemistry, One Semester Course.
CHEM 161A, 161B: Physical Chemistry, Two Semester Course.
CHEM159esr: Application of Electron Spin Resonance esr to Analytical Chemistry Problems.
CHEM159xas : Application of X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy
XAS to Analytical Chemistry Problems.
CHEM159x-ray : Application of X-ray Diffraction to Analytical Chemistry Problems.
CHEM178. Computational Chemistry, One Semester Course. CHEM178CHEM. COMP.
CHEM263: Quantum Chemistry, One Semester Course.
CHEM262: Classical and Statistical Thermodynamics, One Semester Course.
CHEM 291D: Seminar for analytical, inorganic, and physical chemistry majors.
Hints Fall 1999: Look here for answers to questions students have sent by e-mail.

