Some of you have started to think about registering for the next semester; here is some advice about the courses. PHY 506 and 512 are recommended for first year students. Students who took PHY 501 in the Fall will probably want to register for PHY 540 in the Spring. Note that PHY 540 will not be offered in fall 2007. If you took PHY 501, 505 and 511, and you feel that three hard graduate courses are too much for you, feel free to talk to your advisor or to me. If you had PHY 598, register to 599 as the second semester of graduate seminars, or vice versa. PHY 551, 556, 612, 680, 684 are potential breadth courses. Consult the table in http://graduate.physics.sunysb.edu/ for information about the acceptance of breadth courses. PHY 680 is not listed in the table, but it will be accepted as a breadth course, except if you do your Ph.D. in a field closely related to biological physics. Talk to me if you have any doubt. PHY 556 (Solid State Physics II) is accepted only if you did not have PHY 555 as a breadth course. PHY 684 is a breadth course for everyone, except for those doing a Ph.D. in accelerator physics. Courses offered by other Departments may be accepted as a breadth courses, but should be cleared with me before registering. Note that the first part of the Nuclear physics sequence (PHY 551) is offered in the Spring; if you miss it now, you will have to wait a year. Look at the Graduate Bulletin, or at the course descriptions of old courses (or at the new ones, as they become available) at http://graduate.physics.sunysb.edu/Physics_Courses.html for more about the content of the courses. Please consult your advisor or me if you think you need to take one or more of PHY 570, 576, 578. These courses do not satisfy any departmental requirements. Note that many courses can be taken for zero (or reduced) credit. This is an option offered to G5 students, who are limited to a total of 9 credits in their registration. Do not register for zero credit except if it is absolutely necessary. In either case you are supposed to do the same work in the course, independent of the amount of credits you are registered for. Best, Laszlo -- ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Laszlo Mihaly Graduate Program Director Department of Physics and Astronomy Stony Brook University 631 632-8279 laszlo.mihaly@sunysb.edu ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^