This award supports an REU site in Physics at Indiana University. The REU site will have research projects for undergraduates in a variety of areas in Physics, including experimental and theoretical research in accelerator physics, biophysics, condensed matter physics, elementary particle physics, materials physics, medical physics, and nuclear physics. The research experience will take place in the IU Physics Department, the Indiana University Cyclotron Facility (IUCF), and the Nuclear Theory Center. Excellent students from schools throughout the U.S. will be recruited, with preference to institutions in the Midwest as well as small institutions where research opportunities for undergraduates may be limited. The student participants will gain direct research experience by working as integral parts of ongoing research programs under the supervision of faculty members and senior scientific staff. Students will learn about a broad range of current research areas through seminars and peer interactions. The REU experience will also include orientation sessions, weekly seminars on current research in physics, discussions of professional development, weekly progress presentations, and mini-courses in use of the student machine shops and scientific computation. At the conclusion of the program, students will submit research papers and present their results in talks at a closing symposium. REU students will be invited to engage in outreach activities to discover the rewards of bringing science to a wider audience. This REU program also promotes mentoring at all levels by including postdocs and graduate students as co-mentors of the REU students, which gives younger scholars the opportunity to learn about the rewards of teaching. Women, underrepresented minorities, and students from small colleges are especially encouraged to apply for this REU site.
