REU Site: SURFing the Physics Lab: A NIST-NSF Partnership for AMO Physics

National Institute Of Standards And Technology, Washington DC

Investigators

Abstract

Through Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships (SURF), SURFing the Physics Lab: A NIST-NSF Partnership for Physics will continue to provide an opportunity for the Physics Laboratory of the National Institute of Standards and Technology to encourage outstanding physics students to pursue scientific careers. For the past seven years, the NSF-NIST SURF program has exposed students to world-class atomic, molecular, optical and radiation physicists and facilities in the NIST Physics Laboratory. Over this time, the NSF-NIST SURF program has been a host to an annual average of twenty-four students from twelve or more undergraduate institutions to pursue research projects of national and international importance. The selected group of students will spend twelve weeks engaged in physics research at the Physics Laboratory's Gaithersburg site, working one on one with NIST staff physicists in projects that combine the quest for fundamental knowledge and direct applications to problems of national importance, and learning about nonacademic alternatives for research careers. The students will also participate in the weekly SURFing the Physics Lab Summer Seminar Series. SURF students will present a research seminar at NIST and be encouraged to participate in a local or national scientific conference during the following academic year.