The Principal Investigator (PI) will create an Reseach Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Program at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA), in which students will carry out individual research projects in solar physics under the supervision of CfA senior staff scientists for ten weeks during the summer. The PI will also include an ethics component in this REU training program, and he pledges to involve a large and highly qualified mentor pool, including female and minority mentors.
Most of the student research projects will involve data analysis from spacecraft missions in which the CfA solar research group is actively involved, such as SOHO, TRACE, Hinode, and SDO. The PI will target undergraduates majoring in Astronomy, Physics, Mathematics, Earth Sciences, and Computer Sciences. The PI has directed a similar, highly successful program at Montana State University in Bozeman for five years, and CfA senior personnel possess relevant experience with undergraduate research and outreach. The PI will initiate this REU program with six students in the first year, and expand by two students per year thereafter.
Through ongoing CfA international collaborations, the PI's team will invite a small number of international students and visiting scientists for lectures. The PI plans to encourage minority student applications by making professional contacts at minority colleges and universities, and a program for visiting teachers will be offered simultaneously with the planned REU student activities. The PI expects that student projects will frequently result in joint professional publications or presentations with their CfA mentor(s), providing undergraduates with valuable motivation and career development experiences. Since solar physics is being taught at relatively few U.S. colleges and universities, the PI also believes that this program will provide an important service to the solar physics community. With its strong space weather component, he asserts that this program will benefit society by adding to our understanding of potential space weather hazards.
This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).
