Physics Research Experience for Undergraduates at Purdue University

Purdue University, West Lafayette IN

Investigators

Abstract

The Physics Department of Purdue University will provide research experiences for twelve undergraduate students and two science teachers, continuing the record over the past four years of providing enriching projects with physics faculty conducting forefront research. Each participant will have his/her individual project with a faculty mentor in one of the areas of active research at Purdue, including astrophysics, nanoscience, particle physics, biological physics, high energy nuclear physics, accelerator-based mass spectrometry, geophysics, and condensed matter physics. The REU program aims to select ten academically qualified students from across the country, plus an additional two students from Purdue. Each year our goal is for more than half of the participants to be women, and we strive to increase the diversity of the participants by targeting appropriate schools and applicants. The Research Experience for Teachers (RET) component will be fully embedded into the REU program, but with an added focus of developing techniques for meeting new state and national goals in science education. The Purdue program emphasizes a well-rounded schedule of weekly tutorials for group experience with joint projects for building experimental skills, weekly seminars with speakers representing the diverse career paths for physicists, field trips to Fermilab and the Advanced Photon Source (Argonne), plus a social schedule of canoe trips, ball games, picnics, etc. The program culminates each summer with a research symposium, to give each student professional experience in public presentation of research.