REU Site: Summer Research Experience for Undergraduates in the Geosciences

University Of Alaska Fairbanks Campus, Fairbanks AK

Investigators

Abstract

This award is to continue an REU site program at the Geophysical Institute of the University of Alaska. Building on success since 1987, this program will give further research opportunities to undergraduates majoring in the physical sciences. The program objective is to acquaint undergraduates with life and work at a research institute. The objective is achieved by providing summer educational work opportunities in which undergraduates become interns participating in the research activities at the Institute. Research topics concentrate on space physics and aeronomy, but also extend to atmospheric science, and in a minor way to solid state physics and laser physics. Students are assigned to conduct research with individual principal investigators who direct their work and serve as mentors during their internship. A common program of weekly lectures and field trips is designed to expose interns to fields of research beyond the scope of their project. Through their close relationships with their mentors, contacts with graduate students, attendance at seminars, lectures, and thesis defenses, and participation in field trips, the interns gain a first hand perspective on life and work as a research scientist.