The PIs plan to continue a Research Experiences for Undergraduates site in the area of atmospheric sciences. Proposed participants include Professor Donald K. Brandvold, Chair, "Chemistry Department, Dr. James Jones, Physics Department,Professor Carl J. Popp (PI), Professor David J. Raymond, Chair,Physics Department, Professor William Rison, Department of Electrical Engineering, Professor Stephen D. Schery (Co-PI), Professor Ronald Thomas, Department of Electrical Engineering, andProfessor William P. Winn, Physics Department and Chair, Langmuir Laboratory. The Departments of Chemistry and Physics at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology have maintained an REU site for five years. NMIMT has ongoing programs in studies of atmospheric electricity, atmospheric chemistry, and acid deposition centered around facilities available at the Irving Langmuir Laboratory for Atmospheric Research located near Socorro, New Mexico and the physics and chemistry laboratories on the NMIMT campus. The PIs plan to support eight students to participate in the REU site, and they intend to allocate six of the eight awards to students outside of the NMIMT through a formal application procedure. Additionally, they plan to involve minority students in the program. Students will have the opportunity to participate in the following studies: 1) The role of large liquid drops in precipitation development (Prof. Blyth); 2) Chemistry of N2O in lightning and corona: field and laboratory experiments (Prof. Brandvold); 3) Convection and Precipitation/Electrification Experiment data analysis (Dr. Jones); 4) Distribution, sources, and effects of acidic precipitation in New Mexico (Prof. Popp); 5) Rainwater chemistry associated with lightning discharges; 6)Cloud physics and mesoscale convective systems (Prof. Raymond); 7) Lightning (Prof. Rison); 8) Atmospheric Radioactivity (Prof. Schery); 9) Remote atmospheric and ionospheric detection system (Prof. Thomas); and 10) Electrical structure of thunderstorms (Prof. Winn).
