Boulder School for Condensed Matter and Materials Physics

University Of Colorado At Boulder, Boulder CO

Investigators

Abstract

NONTECHNICAL ABSTRACT This award supports the Boulder School for Condensed Matter and Materials Physics. The annual summer school held on the University of Colorado campus in Boulder, Colorado provides education for advanced graduate students and postdoctoral fellows working in condensed matter physics, materials science and related fields. The goal of the School is to bridge the gap between graduate training and research by providing advanced graduate students and beginning postdoctoral researchers access to specialized training not readily available through graduate programs at any one institution. The School is also intended to foster a sense of community among junior researchers. Through online resources that are broadly available, the School is an educational resource for the community. Boulder Schools typically run for four weeks in July each year and utilize facilities provided by the University of Colorado. Each school has about sixty students and twenty lecturers. Lectures expose the students to a wide range of subjects in forefront condensed matter and materials physics; topics that are often not available at students' home institutions. Members of underrepresented groups are always in attendance, as well as a number of international students. The School plays an important role in the condensed matter and materials physics community. Through a diverse and evolving set of lectures, posted on the School's website, and webcast and video-recorded, it contributes to the community well beyond student participants attending the School. Each summer school also presents one or two public lectures for the Denver area community. Schools also expose local teachers participating in NSF's Research Experience for Teachers program and high school students to modern materials research. TECHNICAL ABSTRACT This award supports the Boulder School for Condensed Matter and Materials Physics. The annual summer school held on the University of Colorado campus in Boulder, Colorado provides education for advanced graduate students and postdoctoral fellows working in condensed matter physics, materials science, and related fields. It contributes to the frontier education of new generations of talented scientists interested in condensed matter and materials science. This is annually accomplished through four weeks of structured lectures, tutorials, discussions, poster sessions and student-run seminars. Its innovative and pedagogical lectures provide graduate education unavailable in any single university department. The goal of the School is to bridge the gap between graduate training and research by providing advanced graduate students and beginning postdoctoral researchers access to specialized training. A School's impact lasts well past its duration, forging scientific relationships and collaborations that continue well into students' scientific careers. Boulder Schools typically run for four weeks in July each year and utilize facilities provided by the University of Colorado. Each school has about sixty students and twenty lecturers. Lectures expose the students to a wide range of subjects in forefront condensed matter and materials physics; topics that are often not available at students' home institutions. Members of underrepresented groups are always in attendance, as well as a number of international students. Planned Boulder Schools supported under this award include "Frustrated and Disordered Systems" (2017), "Quantum Information Science" (2018), and "Cold Atomic and Molecular Gases" (2019). The School's Advisory Board and the condensed matter and materials science community will determine future timely and topical schools. The Boulder School plays an important role in the condensed matter and materials physics community. Through a diverse and evolving set of lectures, posted on the School's website, and webcast and video-recorded, it contributes to the community well beyond student participants attending the School. Each summer school also presents one or two public lectures for the Boulder/Denver area community. These are extremely popular and consistently well attended. Schools also expose local teachers participating in a Research Experience for Teachers program and high school students to modern materials science.