This award supports the Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) site in Physics & Astronomy at Louisiana State University. The impact of this program is fostering 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 are 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 ten-week program, the participants are matched with faculty mentors based on student interests. Students join their mentors in active research projects, such as: i) performing analysis on data from the long baseline neutrino oscillation experiment T2K, ii) instrumentation development and data simulations to support gravitational wave research, and iii) designing quantum error correction codes and quantum memory for photonic qubits.
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 participate in field trips and other activities, some of which are coordinated with concurrent LSU summer science programs in computer science, biomedical science and other areas. Students from all programs are lodged in proximity at on-campus apartment-style housing, to foster group interactions and a sense of community.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
