This project will continue an REU site, involving eight undergraduate students per year in a summer internship program. Students will study space plasma physics, optics and materials science. Students will construct and observe the optical characteristics of space instrumentation, as well as the resulting scientific return from spacecraft and ground-based instruments studying the Earth, Sun, interplanetary space, and distant astronomical objects. Students will meet weekly with their advising faculty to discuss progress, and give a formal presentation of their results at the end of the summer, as well as a written research report.