REU Site: Physics and Chemistry Research at Wooster

College Of Wooster, Wooster OH

Investigators

Abstract

NON-TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION This REU site in the Physics and Chemistry departments at The College of Wooster closely guides undergraduates in publishable research projects. This site targets improving the retention of students in science and helping build the technological workforce that is essential to our nation's future. Its long-running granular flow experiment allows investigation of critical phenomena like avalanches and earthquakes. Its reaction-diffusion simulation sheds light on wave-front recovery in damaged cardiac tissue. Its ongoing study of a unique swellable glass, discovered at Wooster, informs its commercial use in environmental remediation projects. The site's faculty have extensive experience introducing and training students in research, especially young students recruited from undergraduate and two-year colleges. The site supports at-risk students as it introduces them to the challenge, excitement, and rewards of doing research in science. Students become practicing scientists through research, oral and poster presentations, written reports, and article co-authorship. TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION This REU site in the Physics and Chemistry departments at The College of Wooster enables even novice undergraduates to make significant scientific contributions. It regularly recruits students from primarily undergraduate institutions and local two-year colleges. The research projects span a broad range of fields including granular materials, spatiotemporal pattern formation, swellable glass, quantum optics, nonlinear dynamics, celestial mechanics, and astrophysics. Approaches include theory, computation, and experiment. This site includes a STEM outreach component through which students conduct and explain engaging science demonstrations for 7th grade girls in Wooster's Buckeye Women In Science, Engineering, and Research (B-WISER) summer camp. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.