Student Chen Jiaxin (Batch 2021/09, Chinese)
Learning physics has never been an easy task. Fortunately, I have met many great teachers and companions on the road of learning physics.
The lecturers in the Department of Physics are very responsible and friendly. Every question after class will be answered in a timely and patient manner. In daily lectures, our lecturers immerse themselves in the beauty of physics or mathematics in delivering physics knowledge to us. The excitement and devotion make us feel deeply connected to physics. In my sophomore year, I also joined the physics society and met many friends from the physics department. Dining together from time to time, we chat and discuss our future directions, have occasional meetings to plan physics-related project activities and putting them into practice. The activities outside of studies are fun and fulfilling.
With the advancement of my studies, I have realized that learning should not be limited to textbook knowledge. I am grateful to the assignments at the end of some courses that provides us an opportunity to study independently. While the process of writing a short project report is challenging, the process of self-selecting a topic of interest and exploring it is enjoyable. With each brainstorming session, the coming together of the report makes me feel accomplished. Most importantly, the independent study is just a catalyst for us to explore unknown areas, driven by our own initiative, to satisfy our curiosity.
The Laboratory class in my sophomore year was my first real contact with physical experiments after the epidemic. From the experiments, I have since found that there is always a big gap between theory and reality. There were various unexpected challenges in real experiments, and we had to improvise and modify the experimental method. This had a big impact on us, and it was the first time that we really felt the difficulty of designing an experiment. The self-designed experiment based on arduino is a field that we have never set foot in before. This is not something that can be summed up in textbooks, so we had to take the initiative to self-learn a lot of additional skills, such as simple programming and circuit connection of arduino, analysis and processing of experimental data, and many others. The lecturer for this class is not only imparting knowledge, but training us to confront and solve problems, sharing of each other’s experiences, and often enlightening us.
What impressed me the most was the poster presentation at the end of the semester. The lecturer asked us to summarize the experimental results of this semester into a poster, and invited many other lecturers and students from our Physics programme to observe and guide us. We practiced giving presentations on our experimental works with this opportunity. At the same time, we have benefited a lot from new perspectives from the students and the professors. The professors behave as both our teachers and friends, they are generous in imparting knowledge and experience, and also sincerely ask questions about areas that they do not understand, which makes the learning process even more wholesome.
Student Leong Jing Tian (Batch 2021/04, Malaysian)
Most of our lecturers are very friendly, especially Assoc. Prof. Lim Yen Kheng and Prof. Tomasz Paterek. Prof. Lim will explain the concepts in detail and clearly. He will also provide step-by-step derivations and notes. At the same time, Prof. Tomasz will give some exercise questions on the spot and point out your error directly during class time.
Moreover, there were also some memorable experiences during the lab session. I joined the lab session with our seniors during the first physical lab session after the pandemic because we have only two students in our intake. Fortunately, I met my kind teammates, who led me to complete the experiment. Secondly, I joined the lab session with our juniors for my second lab session during the last semester (2022/09). Also, this semester, we had our first experience with poster presentations. It was enjoyable and memorable.
I work as a multimedia in the XMUM Physics Society. We conducted our first event, the new student orientation, for two days last September. My job scope is to take photos and edit videos during the event, also managing the social media account of our society. It was really fun and, of course, exhausting, but it is good to make a bonding between seniors and juniors.
Student Yang Ziou (Batch 2020/09, Chinese)
Welcome to Physics department in Xiamen University Malaysia! My name is Yang Ziou, I’m an undergraduate student from Physics Department in 2020. Because I am very interested in the theory of everything, I choose to major in physics.
So far, I have been studying in the physics department in Xiamen University Malaysia for nearly three years. My first and second years are in the form of online courses due to the COVID-19. Although I could not communicate with my teachers and classmates face to face, through online communications, I learned about thermodynamics through the teaching of Prof. Ong, the charm of electromagnetic by Prof. Tomasz, the knowledge about optics by Prof. Kelvin, and interesting contents of quantum by Prof. Lim. I could feel the enthusiasm of teachers in physics department and the unity of the students in the department. In my junior year, I came to Malaysia to take physical courses.
There are many interesting experimental courses in the physics department. Although I did not experience physical experiments when I was a freshman and sophomore, online experiments also gave me a very happy experience. Through the online laboratory link given by Prof. Chung, Prof. Kelvin and Prof. Siti, our physics students conducted experimental explorations with each other, such as setting quantitative and variable parameters and observing interesting changes in various experiments.
There will certainly be difficulties on the way of learning, and the teachers of the Physics department welcome us to ask questions. For the online teaching, if we have questions, teachers would provide us detailed answers to each question through teams. For the physical teaching, if I have a big doubt, teachers would take the time to invite me to their office to talk to me face to face so that gave me more detailed explanations.
One of my most memorable learning experiences was doing research with Prof. Lim Yen Kheng with the content of Hayward Space and time. Because I want to develop on the road of astronomy, I really wanted to do research together with the kind Prof. Lim. This research lasted throughout my sophomore year. Prof. Lim first gave me some books to read to understand the conceptual basis of the theory of relativity. Then he patiently, step by step, guided me on how to write my paper, how to conduct the next step of research, explore the physics of solving Einstein's equations in Hayward space-time, observe the trajectory of charged particles and so on. Here, I would like to thank Prof. Lim, who has given me great help, made me more interested in theoretical physics, and strengthened my confidence to take the road of astronomy.
A few days before the physical courses of my junior year were about to begin, the entire physics department held a welcoming ceremony for the freshmen of the 22nd physics department. Prof. Ong, Head of the Department of Physics, Assistant Professor Lim Yen Kheng and Chuang Fei Fang gave us a wonderful speech, let us understand physics and the future of physics. During the two-day ceremony, students from the physics department played a lot of interactive games together in the welcome, and I deeply felt the unity and enthusiasm of the physics department.
The department of Physics in Xiamen Malaysia is a friendly group full of physics wisdom and mysteries. Welcome to know and join the family of the Department of Physics! I hope you can have an unforgettable and wonderful university experience.