This project makes a major device, the Stony Brook Tandem Van de Graaff accelerator, accessible to students and educators through both on-site and remote access and allows its use for a wide variety of applications ranging from anthropology (using 14C dating techniques) through nuclear physics. Using video-conference-based tools, students have the opportunity to study nuclear collisions by taking virtual control of a functioning nuclear accelerator and its associated detectors. Among other experiments, students are able to conduct neutron threshold studies, observe resonance states in (p,n) reactions, study heavy-ion reactions, and perform discrete gamma ray experiments. Because the device is also able to make accelerator mass spectrometry measurements, the long-range facility plan is to perform 14C dating to determine the age of biological materials (currently available), detect 26Al (possibly associated with Alzheimer's disease), and measure 41Ca from bones, 36Cl from ice cores, ground water, and glacially-cleaved mountain tops, and 129I from fossil fuel reserves. While the primary focus of the current project is undergraduate education, the accelerator is also available to the pre-college and graduate communities.
This project asked the question of whether a major research instrument, whose basic reseaarch career had ended, could be incorporated into the undergraduate curriculum to spark the imagination and interest of undergraduate students. The instrument in question is the Stony Brook tandem accelerator shown in the picture. Undergraduate students became involved at the tandem through three different avenues: Women students in the WSE187 class (introduction to research) spend 1/3 semester in a class dedicated to learning nuclear and accelerator physics by using the tandem. Physics majors gained access to the device via their required lab class. Summer student researchers used the device through the REU program to do research. To date we have involved many more students that we originally anticipated as the tandem has become an attraction. In fact, many students via word-of-mouth change their schedule to be able to take the classes that use the tandem. The most successful experiment that we have them perform was developed in a cooperative group experience in the WSE187 class. WISE is the "Women in Science and Engineering" program at Stony Brook and WSE187 is their central class involving research. That class was tailored to the needs of the students (many of whom were biology majors) in finding the aspect of nuclear physics that they were most interested in. Then, along with two undergraduate TA's, we set the course for our experiment. PET scanners use positron tomography to "image the chemistry" inside a person's body in a non-invasive way. These devices rely on isotopes that are rare in nature. Among these is 11C which is most often used for brain chemistry (whereas 18F is used for cancer identification). Our experiment involves a cooperative effort in which the 18 women students divided into teams to produce and measure 11C using the accelerator. The four teams included: The "source-orors". These students became expert operating the ion source and producing a beam of protons. The "accelerators". These students became expert at the operation of the accelerator and tuning of the beam onto a Boron target. The "annihilators". These students became expert at the detection of the matter-antimatter annihilation that follows the emission of a positron from 11C. The finale of the class involved each of these groups teaching the others about how their portion of the experiment worked (with ample questions from the Prof!) and actually performing the experiment and verifying the result by measuring the 11C half-life of 20 minutes. The popularity of this class can be measured by the fact that that students at the end of the semester rate it as their most enriching among the three experiences they chose (and by the fact that it fills up with requests). The experiment designed by the WSE class was then approved by the Stony Brook faculty as a regular option in the undergraduate lab class. There it has been successful by noted by a similar measure. The lab class ends with students presenting a poster (similar to that which would be done at a conference). All but one student who chose to tandem experiment chose that one as the topic of their poster. The efficacy of the use of such a device can grow beyond nuclear physics. Accelerators of this type are used for Carbon-dating as well. Unfortunately, university funding of a special ion source for C-dating fell through. At the end of this grant we have just assembled a cheaper version designed by our own summer undergraduate students (REU) that we hope will provide the basis for a future carbon dating program as well. Overall, we believe that this grant has successfully proven that retired majopr research instruments can become a part of a mainstream undergraduate curriculum, and that rather than generating fear in students that are a source of inspiration.
