The Physics Department of the University of California at Davis will host undergraduates for a summer research experience. The ultimate goal is to encourage students to continue studying physics through and beyond the college level. The program will give students views of physics not seen in typical coursework: first-hand experience of the joys and frustrations of research, and information about several types of physics careers. The program will support ten students per year for the next three years, with half recruited from two-year and four-year colleges in northern California and the remainder recruited nationally from four-year colleges and universities. The heart of the program is a research project, supervised by one or more faculty members, in condensed matter physics, biophysics, geophysics, environmental physics, nuclear physics, high energy physics, or cosmology. Supplementary activities will include introductory talks giving overviews of current physics research areas, lunch meetings to encourage discussion about the students' research projects, and visits to nearby national laboratories and industry to illustrate careers open to trained physicists. The program will conclude with research presentations by the students, given at a combined session with another ten-student summer program aimed at science and engineering undergraduates from community colleges.
