Two papers from the thermal physics project have been accepted for publication in Physical Review Special Topics – Physics Education Research.  Phys. Rev. ST – PER is publishing a Focused Collection on Physics Education Research in Upper Division Courses. The two papers are both from the dissertation work of Trevor Smith. T.I. Smith, D.B. Mountcastle, and read more Boltzmann factor and heat engines papers accepted to Physical Review: Smith et al. (2015), and Smith et al. (2015)