This three year grant is to establish a Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Site at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. The research objective is to investigate the energy release, particle acceleration, and energy transport processes that occur in solar flares. The principal focus will be on 1) understanding the nuclear physics of solar flares both by laboratory measurements of relevant cross sections and by the theoretical modelling of the various nuclear reactions; 2) the analysis of multiwavelength observations of solar flares including X-rays, microwaves, and H-alpha emissions and their interpretation in comparison with various theoretical flare models; and 3) the development of advanced new instrumentation for hard X-ray imaging using both temporal and spatial modulation techniques. It is hoped that five or six undergraduates will be able to participate in this program.
