Professor
Dr. Neal Evans
Office: RLM 17.344
Hours: T 2:30-3:15,
Th 11-11:30
Phone: (512) 471-4396
nje@astro.as.utexas.edu
Course Website
TA
Steve DeGennaro
Office: RLM 15.202A
Hours: W 2-3, Th 2-3
Phone: (512) 471-8316
deg@astro.as.
utexas.edu
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Required Books
Extraterrestrial Life, 5th Edition, by Evans
Contact, by Carl Sagan
Grades
There will be 4 exams. There will be no final. Exams consist primarily of essay questions. Blue books must be
used for all exams. The lowest of the four exam scores will be dropped. There will be absolutely no make-up
exams, no matter how good your reason is for missing the exam. Dropping the lowest score will cover the
situation where an exam is missed for a legitimate reason.
Each exam will be worth 120 points, giving a total of 360 points for a perfect score. The scores needed to
obtain a given grade are listed here:
A
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315-360
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B
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260-314
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C
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200-259
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D
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135-199
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There may also be occasional pop quizzes for extra credit, and we will give extra credit to those who actively
participate in class discussion. The extra credit will be used to boost people over grade boundaries (for
example, a student with 255 points who was active in class discussion would get a B).
Cheating on exams will be dealt with very harshly; don't do it!
Topics
The course covers a wide range of topics, drawing on astronomy, physics, chemistry, biology, anthropology, and history.
The table of contents of the text gives a good idea of the subjects covered in the class.
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