This award supports a new REU site at the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Louisiana State University. The intended impact of this program is to foster interest in careers in science, by introducing students to the nature of research-oriented careers in physics and astronomy and by developing research-related skills and knowledge. REU students will be recruited nationally; students can be of any academic year and need not have a declared major, but must have completed the general physics sequence at their school. For the 10-week program, the participants will be matched with faculty mentors based on student interests. Students will join their mentors in active research projects in astronomy, astrophysics, and physics. Weekly seminars and workshops introduce the students to faculty research, to skills development, to common research resources, and to professional development topics such as ethics and patents/intellectual property. Students will participate in field trips and other activities, some of which will be coordinated with concurrent LSU summer science programs in chemistry, biomedical science and other areas. Students from all programs will be lodged in proximity at on-campus apartment-style housing, to foster group interactions and a sense of community. This award is funded by the Physics Division and the Division of Astronomical Sciences at the National Science Foundation.
The goal for the Physics & Astronomy REU program hosted at LSU is to foster interest in careers in science, by introducing students to the nature of research-oriented careers and developing research-related skills and knowledge. This is accomplished by giving students a vibrant experience at a large research university. Participating in contemporary active research projects benefits the students’ knowledge and helps them to develop valuable cognitive, analytic, and technical skills. The large diverse faculty of the LSU Dept. of Physics & Astronomy provides a spectrum of research topics and mentorship to our REU participants. The students get a broad-based view of physics & astronomy, helping them to develop their particular interests. Thus, the direct benefits to the P&A REU student participants are: Seeing the "work" of research firsthand, including its challenges and rewards; Developing technical and analytic skills that will be useful in future careers; Making acquaintances with other participants who may one day be future colleagues and collaborators; Learning about professional issues related to research-oriented careers; and Experiencing the geographical and cultural flavor of Louisiana and the southeastern U.S. At the same time, the Dept. of Physics & Astronomy and the faculty mentors benefit from the productivity of the REU students, from the inherent "advertising" and increased awareness by the students’ home institutions of our departmental research and education programs, and by using our experiences with the REU students to continuously improve our programs and the quality of training of our students. During the period of support of this grant, we ran our program three times: Summer 2010, Summer 2011, and Summer 2012. During this time, we had 27 participants, 2 of whom each participated for two summers. Demographically, 48% of participants were women and 15% were underrepresented minorities. The participants came from colleges and universities of all sizes, and located all across the nation (see map). The P&A REU participants worked in essentially all major research areas within our department: astronomy, neutrino physics, high-energy astrophysics, LIGO, loop quantum gravity, numerical relativity, experimental and theoretical nuclear physics, computational physics, and experimental and theoretical condensed matter physics. REU participant projects have resulted in publications in science journals as well as presentations at local and national conferences. Many of the P&A REU participants have gone on to graduate school, including several who came to LSU to continue working with their REU mentors. The majority of the students’ research time was spent in the mentors’ laboratories. Students spent approximately 35 hours per week directly on their projects, with 5 hours per week spent in science seminars, and in the weekly group meeting and professional development activities. The weekly science seminar series featured Physics & Astronomy faculty. The speakers talked about their research areas, providing the students with an introduction to a variety of physics research topics. The speakers were selected to provide a range of topics covering most research areas in our department. We also had two science field trips, which highlighted local research facilities at which our faculty work or collaborate: LIGO-Livingston and CAMD. LIGO-Livingston is one of the Laser Interferometry Gravitational-wave Observatory sites. CAMD is LSU's synchrotron research facility. The LIGO and CAMD visits were well-received by the REU students each year, with students indicating that these field trips were some of the best parts of the summer experience. Each summer, the Physics REU Program hosted Astronomy Night, for the students from all the science summer programs at LSU. The activities included a lecture about an astronomy or astrophysics topic, a picnic dinner under the oak trees of LSU’s main quadrangle, physics demonstrations provided by the P&A REU students themselves (the most popular is always making ice cream using liquid nitrogen), and viewing of the moon and Saturn through the 19" refractor telescope in the Landolt Observatory; in some summers, we also watched flyovers of the International Space Station. Our speakers were Dr. Brad Schaefer ("Farnese Atlas", 2010), Dr. T. Gregory Guzik ("Ballooning to the Edge of Space", 2011), and Dr. Arlo Landolt ("Astronomy from the South Pole to Louisiana", 2012). Two physics faculty demonstrated ham radio operation and relayed signals from the ISS. The attendance was approximately 100 people each year. The summer programs also included non-science activities. All summer STEM programs participated in an annual Student-Mentor softball game. We had picnics for the 4th of July, visited the French Quarter in New Orleans, and went on swamp tours. The culmination of each summer program was the preparation of a poster and its presentation at the annual LSU Summer Undergraduate Research Forum (SURF), a collaboration of all the summer science programs at LSU. Members of the LSU community mingled with all the students, discussing research projects and the summer experience. SURF had 125-145 student participants annually, spanning 10-13 summer STEM research programs.
