Mentor in Sprettur (GKY001M)

In the course, the student's task consists in being a mentor for participants that are upper secondary school students and university students in the project "Sprettur". Mentors' main role is to support and encourage participants in their studies and social life. As well as creating a constructive relationship with the participants, being a positive role model, and participating in events organized in Sprettur. The mentor role centers around building relationships and spending meaningful time together with the commitment to support participants. 

Sprettur is a project that supports students with an immigrant or refugee background who come from families with little or no university education. The students in this course are mentors of the participants and are paired together based on a common field of interest. Each mentor is responsible for supporting two participants. Mentors plan activities with participants and spend three hours a month (from August to May) with Sprettur’s participants, three hours a month in a study group and attend five seminars that are spread over the school year. Students submit journal entries on Canvas in November and March. Diary entries are based on reading material and students' reflections on the mentorship. Compulsory attendance in events, study groups, and seminars. The course is taught in Icelandic and English. 

Students must apply for a seat in the course. Applicants go through an interview process and 15-30 students are selected to participate. 

See the digital application form. 

More information about Sprettur can be found here: www.hi.is/sprettur  

Final project (EÐL442L)

Final project

Thesis skills: project management, writing skills and presentation (VON001F)

Introduction to the scientific method. Ethics of science and within the university community.
The role of the student, advisors and external examiner. Effective and honest communications.
Conducting a literature review, using bibliographic databases and reference handling. Thesis structure, formulating research questions, writing and argumentation. How scientific writing differs from general purpose writing. Writing a MS study plan and proposal. Practical skills for presenting tables and figures, layout, fonts and colors. Presentation skills. Project management for a thesis, how to divide a large project into smaller tasks, setting a work plan and following a timeline. Life after graduate school and being employable.

Computational Physics F (EÐL114F)

Introduction to how numerical analysis is used to explore the properties of physical systems. Programming environment and graphical representation. The application of functional bases for solving models in quantum and statistical mechanics. Communication with Linux-clusters and remote machines. The course is taught in English or Icelandic according to the needs of the students.

Programming language: FORTRAN-2008 with OpenMP directives for parallel processing.

Quantum Mechanics 1 (EÐL509M)

The postulates and formalism of quantum mechanics. One-dimensional systems. Angular momentum, spin, two level systems. Particles in a central potential, the hydrogen atom. Approximation methods. Time independent and time dependent perturbation. Scattering.

Condensed Matter Physics 1 (EÐL520M)

The course is an introduction to some basic concepts of condensed matter physics. Curriculum: Chemical bonds, crystal structure, crystal symmetry, the reciprocal lattice. Vibrational modes of crystals, phonons, specific heat, thermal conductivity. The free electron model, band structure of condensed matter, effective mass. Metals, insulators and semiconductors. The course includes three labs.

Computational Chemistry F (EFN115F)

Methods for calculating and predicting properties of matter and the rate of transitions. Students will learn to use software for setting up and carrying out calculations of various organic and inorganic compounds and to interpret
the results for deeper insight and understanding of chemistry. Among the methods that will be introduced for calculating electron distribution are Hartree-Fock, density functional theory and perturbation theory (MP2). The compromises that need to be made in choosing basis sets and level of theory will be discussed.  Among methods used to calculate structure of molecules and movement of atoms are minimization techniques, classical dynamics, vibrational mode analysis, Monte Carlo and transition state theory.  The coursework includes laboratory exercises  involving computer calculations, including individual projects and computer programming.

Quality Management (IÐN101M)

Organization and management systems. The systems approach. Quality management, quality concepts. Historical development of quality management. Quality cost. Quality in manufacturing. x, R, p, c and cusum-chart. Statistical quality control. Tests of hypotheses. Acceptance sampling - OC curves. Inspection planning. Quality systems and quality assurance. Quality handbook and organizing for quality. ISO 9001. Total Quality Management, improvement step by step, motivations theories. Quality tools. Practical assignment: Designing a quality system for a company.

Corrosion (VÉL501M)

Basic thermodynamic and electrochemical principles that cause corrosion. Procedures of electrochemical measurements used to investigate corrosion behavior. Methods of corrosion protection and prevention, materials selection and design.

The course is taught every other year on even numbered years.

Final project (EÐL442L)

Final project

Microfabrication Technology (EÐL523M)

Integrated circuits, history and future trends. Solid state electronics, the MOS-transistor and CMOS. Integrated circuit fabrication, crystal growth, oxidation, doping, diffusion, ion implantation, lithography, deposition and etching of thin fi ms, microelectromechanical systems (MEMS).

Solid State Physics 2 (EÐL206M)

The goal is to introduce the limits of single particle models of condensed matter and explore particle interactions. Curriculum: Electric- and magnetic susceptibility in insulating and semiconducting materials. Electron transport, the Boltzmann equation and the relaxation time approximation. Limits of single particle models. Interactions and many particle approximations. Exchange interaction and magnetic properties of condensed matter, Heisenberg model, spin waves. Superconductivity, the BCS model and the Ginzburg-Landau equation.

Literature Study for the Master's Degree in Engineering Physics (EÐL222F)

The supervising committee and the MS-student meet for one semester on a weekly basis to discuss research articles, review articles, and parts of books selected by the committee for that purpose. The reading material shall be related to the student's field of research, but without overlapping with his research project, so as to broaden the horizons of the student. The course is completed with a short thesis on the subject and an oral examination.

Modern Experimental Physics (EÐL616M)

Presentation of important techniques used in experimental physics and of various phenomena related to the subject matter of the second and third year of the Physics curriculum. Six extensive experiments are made, most of which are related to active research in experimental physics at the Science Institute of the University of Iceland.  The course emphasizes independence in carrying out the experiments, data analysis and literature search.

Introduction to Nanotechnology (EÐL624M)

Nanostructures and Nanomaterials, Nanoparticles, Nanowires, Thin films, thin film growth, growth modes, transport properties.  Characterization of nanomaterials, Crystallography,Particle Size Determination, Surface Structure, Scanning Tunneling Microscope, Atomic Force Microscope, X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray reflectometry (XRR), Scanning Electron Microscpe (SEM), and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). Scaling of transistors, MOSFET, and finFET. Carbon Nanoscructures, Graphene and Carbon nanotubes. Lithography. Nanostructred Ferromagnetism. Nano-optics,  Plasmonics, metamaterials, cloaking and invinsibility. Molecular Electronics.

Innovation, Product Development, Marketing (IÐN202M)

An insight into the structure of innovation, product development and marketing and how to use this methodology as a tool of management in industrial companies. Theory and practical methods of innovation, product development and marketing. Training in project management and how to run integrated projects covering those three areas by solving realistic problems.

Biochemistry 4 (LEF617M)

This course focuses on methodology and recent innovations in biochemistry, emphasizing both analytical and computational techniques. It is divided into several modules, each taught by experts in their respective fields. While lectures form the core of the material, additional resources such as articles or book chapters may be assigned when appropriate. Practical demonstrations of research equipment may also be included. Students are expected to submit several written assignments throughout the semester.

The course will explore recent research in various specialized areas of biochemistry, and the content of the modules is regularly updated.

Topics covered may include single-molecule spectroscopy, protein mass spectrometry, structural biochemistry, binding affinity and thermodynamics, enzymology, and computational biochemistry.

Cell Biology II (LÍF614M)

The emphasis is on research articles. Resent research in various field with links to cell biology are included but can vary between years. For each lecture max three research articles are included.

Each student gives a seminar on one research article with details on methods and results. The students write a report (essay) on the article and discusses the results in a critical way.

Examples of topics included in the course: innate immunity, prions, the proteins pontin and reptin, polarized epithelium, development of trachea, data analyses and gene expression, autophagy, the origin of the nucleus.

Introduction to Systems Biology (LVF601M)

Systems biology is an interdisciplinary field that studies the biological phenomena that emerge from multiple interacting biological elements. Understanding how biological systems change across time is a particular focus of systems biology. In this course, we will prioritize aspects of systems biology relevant to human health and disease.

This course provides an introduction to 1) basic principles in modelling molecular networks, both gene regulatory and metabolic networks; 2) cellular phenomena that support homeostasis like tissue morphogenesis and microbiome resilience, and 3) analysis of molecular patterns found in genomics data at population scale relevant to human disease such as patient classification and biomarker discovery. In this manner, the course covers the three major scales in systems biology: molecules, cells and organisms.

The course activities include reading and interpreting scientific papers, implementation of computational algorithms, working on a research project and presentation of scientific results.

Lectures will comprise of both (1) presentations on foundational concepts and (2) hands-on sessions using Python as the programming language. The course will be taught in English.

Engineering Design Processes (VÉL203M)

Background for design and engineering design process. Conceptual design, need analysis, specifications, boundary conditions and evaluation criteria. Embodiment and detailed design. CAD system and development of computer graphics. Wire frame model, surface and solid models. Design for reliability, safety and environmental protection.

Mechatronics (VÉL205M)

Mechanical systems and mechatronics system elements. Mechanism, motors, drives, motion converters, sensors and transducers. Signal processing and microprocessor.

Computer Aided Design (VÉL206M)

In this course students are introduced to the basic concepts and methods for parametric representation of curves such as the Bezier-, Hermite- and NURBS curves.  Students will learn about the methods for representing three-dimensional wireframe-, solid- and surface models.  The course will cover the use of parameters when developing and creating three-dimensional modeling, the creation of assembly drawings using mating operators and how different engineering software solutions can communicate. 

The course provides a good fundamental overview of the available engineering software solutions – their advantages and limitations – and the students will learn about the current trends in their field, e.g. in the analysis, simulation, prototyping and manufacturing.  The current trends will be indroduced through guest lectures, company visits and a mini-seminar where the students write articles and present new and exciting research or new techniques (based on peer-review papers). 

Concurrently with the lectures, students work on an unstructured engineering project where they will engineer and build a working prototype, write the results in a report and present the results.

Computational Fluid Dynamics (VÉL215F)

The main purpose is to develop methods of predicting numerical solutions in fluid mechanics and heat transfer. Especially of predicting boundary layer phenomena and modelling of turbulence transport properties. Both finite volume and finite difference methods are demonstrated. Solution of non-linear equations and stability criterium. Emphasis is laid on solution of practical problems.

The course is taught every other year on odd numbered years.