The PI, Dr. Yervant Terzian, will head the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) site program at Cornell University. This is an eight-week summer program for student/mentor research in radio, radar, infrared, and optical astronomy on topics ranging from the solar system to the large-scale structure of the universe. The students will mix with other summer program attendees at Cornell, take part in summer activities within the Space Sciences Department, attend a bi-weekly summer lecture series on various Astronomical topics, and will present their findings at a Summer Student Research Seminar. Students may also accompany their mentors on trips to facilities such as Arecibo Observatory, Kitt Peak National Observatory, the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (Green Bank), or Mt. Palomar.
The program to-date has served a range of students, some of whom go on to careers in astronomy, and some of whom find that the experience sets them on a different career path, yet one that is well served by involvement in the REU program.
The main purpose of this program is to inspire undergraduate students to choose and stay in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics careers and help them acquire some of the tools needed to do so. Following NSF guidelines, we involve them "in meaningful ways in ongoing research programs or in research projects specifically designed for the REU program" such that they have "high-quality interactions … with faculty and/or other research mentors and access to appropriate facilities and professional development opportunities". The program also seeks to increase the diversity of the STEM workforce. We received nearly 200 applications/year. After a rigorous merit-based selection process, eight students were selected each year to work on independent projects in close collaboration with faculty mentors and their teams. Cornell’s Astronomy Department embraced these students. Overall, 22 faculty, 12 research staff and numerous graduate students were actively involved in this program. Each student was assigned an individual project involving some level of original research and tasks including analyzing and interpretating data already taken, performing numerical simulation of astrophysical events, and/or preparing and participating in an observing run. Students had full access to the resources of the Astronomy Department, Cornell University facilities such as the Supercomputer Facility as well as resources at other facilities including Arecibo, Palomar, Caltech Submillimeter, SOFIA and the VLA. They had access to astronomical software packages, and pulsar, galaxy and other databases. Mentors emphasized student understanding of the physics principles behind each project and on the method of scientific research. As a result, students contributed directly to advance aspects of many larger projects being undertaken by our faculty and research staff, including both the operations of important research facilities and missions and scientific research projects. Many presented their results in professional scientific meetings; seven co-authored published scientific papers. To promote continuation in STEM, we organized graduate school-oriented events and provided career information. All program participants are on track to build STEM careers. 29 students (73%) went on to pursue Ph.D.s, M.A./M.Sc. followed by a Ph.D.s or, in one case, a Ph.D. followed by an M.A. in Education; 2 (5%) pursued an M.Sc. Two (5%) are taking fellowships while they decide between graduate school or work in industry. One student is considering a career in industry (2.5%); 6 are still in college (15%). All students who have graduated have stayed in STEM fields. 23 are in Astronomy, Astrophysics or Planetary Sciences, the fields our program offers. One switched to Biophysics, another to Biomedical Engineering, two to High Energy Physics, one to Physics, one to Materials Science and Engineering, another to Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, one to Oceanography (followed by an Education MA), one (an MA) to Computer Science and one to industry. Looking to increase diversity of the STEM workforce, we made sustained efforts to attract women, underrepresented groups and students from colleges with limited research programs. The applicant pool included 43% women. Participants included 38% women (two Hispanic, 5% of all participants). Students came from 35 different colleges and universities from a wide geographic range: Midwest (Beloit, Carleton, Cornell, Oberlin Colleges, Indiana, Iowa State, Notre Dame Universities, Universities of Illinois, Nebraska, Wisconsin); Northeast (Wellesley, College of New Jersey, Cornell, Franklin & Marshall, Harvard, Syracuse, Villanova, Yale Universities, MIT, Rochester Institute of Technology, UMass); South (East Carolina, Johns Hopkins, West Virginia Universities, Florida Institute of Technology); West (Reed, Trinity Colleges, Humboldt State, Santa Clara Universities, Universities of Arizona and Washington, UC Berkeley, UCLA) and the University of Puerto Rico. Overall, 23% of students came from Schools with Limited Research Facilities, while 10% came from Cornell itself, none in the last two years of the grant. Our program advertised extensively among Historically Black and Predominantly Minority Institutions as well as Hispanic Serving Institutions to increase the number of students underrepresented groups. They represented 7.23% of applicants and 7.5% of participants. The program strove to provide students with a cohort experience. All research projects were grounded in the core work of the Department and the students were integrated into Departamental life. They were encouraged to interact formally and informally with faculty and research staff at Department functions and at events set up for this purpose, as well as with the graduate student body, which actively promoted these interactions. Moreover, students were required to participate in bi-weekly seminars where they engaged with Department faculty, research staff, and graduate and undergraduate students. Beyond the workday, the program encouraged students to choose housing that fostered continued interactions among them. In this we found an enthusiastic response in a University co-op at which our students were the single largest group. These efforts allowed friendships to develop among the students and between students and members of the Department, with the potential to grow into professional scientific networks.
