REU Site: Research Experiences for Undergraduates in Atomic, Molecular, and Biological Physics

Sri International, Menlo Park CA

Investigators

Abstract

The Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) site at the Molecular Physics Laboratory at SRI International provides six undergraduate students each summer the opportunity to participate in research on topics in atomic, molecular and biological physics. This program offers talented undergraduates the opportunity to perform summer research in a non-university research laboratory. This program produces students who understand the process of performing research, starting with the development of the problem and continuing with evaluation of the approach, performing measurements, and drawing conclusions. This training helps prepare the Nation's future well-trained workforce required to continue to lead an increasingly technological world. In addition to participating in research with an experienced mentor, the REU students will engage in weekly activities such as seminars, ethics training, safety training, and visits to other research laboratories, to ensure not only that their research stays on track but that they have an engaging collegial and scholarly experience. By the end of the program, every student will have presented the results of the work in a thirty-minute seminar. The host laboratories, known for research in physics and interdisciplinary offshoots of physics based research, have a proven record of undergraduate research as evidenced by the number of student coauthors in journal publications.