This award supports the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) site in Physics at the University of Illinois. The program introduces undergraduate students to the broad range of problems in science and engineering that can be addressed using the tools of physics. A total of 10 students will participate each summer. U.S. undergraduate students spend ten weeks in Urbana working closely and directly with senior physics faculty on challenging, meaningful projects aimed at developing their "research literacy" skills and their exposure to the diversity of physics subfields. Programmatic activities assist participants in practicing oral presentation and technical writing skills, developing flexible attitudes toward career choices, and inculcating professional ethics. The REU projects at Illinois are neither "cookbook" exercises nor manual labor, but are original research exercises intimately related to ongoing faculty research at the cutting edge of physics. Students write code that is subsequently used in real experiments, they design and test components for real instruments, and they analyze real data. Projects are challenging but doable and are designed to achieve measurable accomplishments in the 10-week time frame. A wide range of research activities are supported so that participants receive an engaging introduction to the breadth of forefront research opportunities in the major subdisciplines of physics. A new feature in this project is the appointment of a scientific director to assist faculty in developing appropriate projects and a "boot camp" to prepare students ready for a productive summer research experience. This award is funded through both the Division of Physics and the Division of Materials Research.
The primary goals of the physics REU site program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign were to provide students with a meaningful hands-on experience in a first-class research environment, to enable them to work closely and directly with practicing researchers in a team environment, to develop their own "research literacy" skills, to practice their technical communications skills, and to expose them to professional and ethical issues they might encounter as young scientists. The specific objectives of the program were sixfold: Identify and recruit qualified U.S. undergraduates, making special efforts to include members of groups historically underrepresented in physics and those from undergraduate institutions having limited research programs. Provide interesting, challenging, meaningful student projects at the forefront of physics research. Enable students to work directly with practicing researchers to develop their own skills. Ensure student progress and success by assigning a graduate student or postdoc in the individual research groups as a personal "mentor" in addition to the faculty adviser, scheduling frequent and regular student-faculty interactions, and promoting collegial relationships among the REU students, other undergraduate student researchers, and the larger physics community at Illinois. Provide programmatic activities to assist participants in practicing communication skills, developing flexible attitudes toward career choices, and inculcating professional ethics. Evaluate the program to identify and perpetuate successful undergraduate research training strategies and methods. During our three-year program, a total of 38 students were supported by the NSF, and the Department of Physics supported two international students who were not eligible for NSF funding. A total of 27 faculty members supervised REU students, and 8 postdoctoral research associates and 21 senior graduate students acted as mentors. Strong efforts were made to recruit students from groups historically underrepresented in physics and from small colleges that have limited research programs and facilities. A total of 27 women (71%) participated, and 73% of the REU students came from small colleges and universities. Demographic breakdowns were as follows: African-American males, 5%; African-American females, 5%; Hispanic males, 8%; Hispanic females, 5%. In addition to specific hands-on research training, numerous programmatic activities were provided to develop participants' professional standards and ethical sensibilities and the so-called "soft skills" of technical communications, scientific writing, public speaking, and time management, which are essential to success in their professional careers. The REU participants also had a chance to practice their own mentoring skills as hosts for visiting high-school students participating in the "Worldwide Youth in Science and Engineering" (WYSE) summer program at Illinois. All students successfully completed their research projects and produced final papers that documented their activities and summarized their results. Of the students who have graduated from their home colleges during the three-year project, 81 percent are pursuing graduate degrees in physics or related disciplines. One student is a technical services representative, one is a junior software developer, and one is a Peace Corps volunteer in Namibia. One student received an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship and one student received a Goldwater Scholarship, in part because of the research experience they received in our program.
