REU Site: Vanderbilt University Research Experiences for Undergraduates in Physics & Astronomy

Vanderbilt University, Nashville TN

Investigators

Abstract

American competitiveness in basic science research and technology development depends crucially on a highly skilled, trained physics workforce. Physics is foundational to much of the fundamental research activity of US research and development efforts. The Vanderbilt University Summer REU program offers undergraduate physics and astronomy students the opportunity to work closely with faculty on forefront research projects in a variety of subfields of physics. The areas include astronomy, biological physics, condensed matter physics including nanoscience, laser physics, nuclear physics, and particle physics. The research mentors are all well funded researchers and all have committed to personally directing the students. An extensive research infrastructure, including the facilities of several large interdisciplinary centers, will be available to the students. Physics students will also have the opportunity to visit major facilities at government laboratories, both domestic and international, including FermiLab, Brookhaven, Oak Ridge, and CERN. As part of the program's emphasis on leadership development, the program includes training in ethical conduct of research, and, as part of the program's emphasis on developing the future workforce, includes a focus on broadening participation of underrepresented groups in physics. The REU program will achieve broad impact. In particular, the track record of the program over the past six years shows that a high percentage of the new participants will be underrepresented minority students, and the track record moreover shows that more than half of those participants will be from institutions with limited research opportunities. To achieve sustained impact, the program is designed to build ties between the Vanderbilt mentors, all of whom are supported with appropriate salary, and faculty at the student's home institution. This builds a larger community, provides for continued support for the student, and enhances the ability for continued mentoring and research participation of the student beyond the REU site experience. Students also have the opportunity to participate in mini and short courses in entrepreneurship, computing, and data science while at Vanderbilt, as well as participating in the Fisk-Vanderbilt Physics and Astronomy Roadshow outreach program. This site is supported by the Department of Defense in partnership with the NSF REU program, and by the Division of Physics and the Division of Astronomical Sciences within NSF's Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorate. 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.