REU Site: Summer Research Projects in Contemporary Physics for Women and Minorities - Phase IV

University Of Chicago, Chicago IL

Investigators

Abstract

The University of Chicago Department of Physics proposes to continue to administer a Research Experiences for Undergraduate (REU) site project targeted especially for women and minorities. This program has been in effect for nine years now with the overriding objective being to encourage women and members of under-represented minority groups to pursue careers in physics. Applications are solicited nationally from undergraduate programs in physics and engineering with particular emphasis on traditional women's colleges and historically black colleges. The core of the program for each student participant is a research project under supervision of an individual faculty member. Typical student projects are distributed among the areas of high energy physics, cosmic ray and space physics, astronomy and astrophysics, general relativity, condensed matter physics, optics and solar energy, and electron and ion microscopy. These research experiences are complemented by field trips and a series of lectures. Each of the students makes a formal oral presentation during the last two weeks of the program and submits a written report describing his or her research. The program includes a number of regular social events as well. The program currently is structured to support fourteen or fifteen students each summer and has been combined operationally with smaller REU programs on campus supported independently by the interdisciplinary Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) and the Center for Astrophysical Research in Antarctica (CARA). These components include 6 to 9 additional students so that for the past few years a total of about 20-23 students have been participating "under one roof" in the combined programs.