REU Site: Undergraduate Research in Particle, Nuclear, Accelerator Physics, and Astrophysics

Wayne State University, Detroit MI

Investigators

Abstract

Wayne State University offers an REU program to bring disadvantaged students from the Detroit Metro Area to national laboratories over the summer. Opportunities for students are offered at Brookhaven National Laboratory, Fermilab, and at Cornell University's Laboratory for Elementary and Particle Physics. Similar opportunities also exist for in-service teachers through an RET component of the program. WSU recruits a uniquely diverse group of students, largely from underrepresented segments of society. The program consists of a preparation phase involving a one-hour course given over the winter to students and prospective teacher participants (14 hours total). The course introduces the students and teachers to the physical and mathematical concepts relevant for the summer experience. The course also provides an introduction to the computing environment of a large experiment, and a computer homework, which requires the students to write and understand simple programs, produce some graphic output, and write their own web page within a Unix environment. This preparation phase provides the students with intensive faculty interaction, encouragement, and an effort to make sure that student needs are met. Wayne State faculty then travel with the students and teachers to Brookhaven, Fermilab, and Cornell in early June to help them get settled and started. The participants merge with other existing REU programs at each site for social activities, and lectures on various scientific topics. This award is co-funded by the Division of Physics and the Office of Multidisciplinary Activities of the Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorate.