REU Site: Research Experiences for Undergraduates at the Rice Quantum Institute

William Marsh Rice University, Houston TX

Investigators

Abstract

This award is in support of the Research Experiences for Undergraduates site located the Rice Quantum Institute at Rice University. The REU program conducted by the Rice Quantum Institute (RQI) brings students from outside universities to Rice University for a ten-week interdisciplinary summer research program. Each student works directly within the research group of a faculty mentor from science and engineering departments within RQI. Each project is designed to be part of a long-range research program by the faculty mentor, but individual to the student and manageable within ten weeks. The students are collectively exposed to different disciplines by contact with a variety of research groups in other labs, weekly seminars by Rice grad students and frequent scientific and social interactions (as well as joint housing) with the other REU students. In mid-session, the students present brief computer presentations to each other and the PI of the context, goals, hurdles and long-range expected yield of their projects. During the final week, written reports are turned in, exit interviews are performed, and, on the last day, students present their work at the RQI Colloquium. This annual event, which assembles a large audience made up of REU students, of research groups and others from Rice, as well as interested outsiders from neighboring schools and industries, showcases research going on within the Institute. This site is co-funded by the Department of Defense in partnership with the NSF REU program, and by the Physics Division, the Division of Materials Research, and the Chemistry Division within the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences.