The objective of the REU at Rensselaer is to actively involve undergraduates in ongoing frontier physics research. The research projects cover Astrophysics, Condensed Matter Physics, Optical Physics, and Particle Physics. Features include: hands-on projects carefully designed by either using existing facilities, building simple instruments and interfaces, or using computer modeling and performing data analysis. In addition to daily contact among participants, graduate students and faculty, there are weekly group activities (seminars and field trips) that allow interaction among participants. Each research group will hold weekly group meetings to discuss technical issues regarding experiments or modeling. At the end of the 1st week there are presentations of goals. In the 6th week each participant will deliver an oral progress presentation and a written progress report. In the 10th week, each participant will do a poster presentation and submit a written final report. Guidelines for the preparation of reports and posters and samples are provided. The program philosophy is to allow students to experience the challenge, the excitement, and sometimes frustration involved in research outside the classroom. The goal is to attract and encourage talented students including minorities and women into careers in sciences.
