The Targeted Infusion Project entitled - Development and Enhancement of the Physics Laboratories at Winston-Salem State University - seeks to develop and enhance the Introductory Physics, Biophysics, Renewable Energy, Optics, Modern Physics, and Computational Physics laboratories, which ultimately will impact about 300 students majoring or minoring in science,technology,engineering and mathematics (STEM) programs, and in particular those enrolled in the Physics minor program. The project integrates education and research because the instrumentations and computational labs will be also used to conduct interdisciplinary research in nonlinear optics, computational physics, and solar energy. The research efforts involve undergraduate students in a meaningful way.
The project will enhance the infrastructure for physics education and research at Winston Salem State University and prepare undergraduate students for graduate studies or the STEM workforce. The proposed activities are centered in a department that currently enrolls six physics minors, all of them African American. The plan is that the physics minor will lead to a Physics major program within five years. This is significant at a time when Historically Black Colleges and Universities are losing their physics programs. The results of the project activities will be disseminated to the broader Physics community through presentations at meetings of professional Physics educators.
