This award is to support the renewal of the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) site program in the Physics Department at the University of Chicago. This program is distinctive in that it has been targeted particularly at attracting women and members of minority groups underrepresented in the physics community. Applications are solicited nationally with emphasis on historically black colleges and traditional women's colleges. The core of the program for each student is a well-defined 10 week summer research project under supervision of a University of Chicago faculty member. Projects are distributed among: high-energy, cosmic-ray and astrophysics, general relativity, condensed-matter physics, non-linear phenomena and biophysics. The program is structured to provide the selected interns not only with research training, but also with strong peer interactions. It allows them to be part of a cohort of diverse individuals interested in science. In addition, there is informal instruction, mentoring, and career counseling over a ten-week period each summer. Regular work on the individual student's research project is augmented by two scheduled lectures each week from faculty as well as by special field trips to Fermi National Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory and Yerkes Observatory, and by informal and formal social activities. Informal mentoring and advising is provided by members of the faculty.
The Department of Physics at the University of Chicago has run a Research Experience for Undergraduate (REU) site targeted especially towards giving women and underrepresented minorities an opportunity to participate in research. The objective is to encourage these students to pursue careers in physics. Applications are solicited nationally with an emphasis on historically black colleges, minority-serving institutions and traditional women's colleges. The core of the program for each student is a well-defined ten-week summer research project under the supervision of a University of Chicago faculty member. Projects are distributed among a number of different areas in physics: high-energy physics, astrophysics and the study of cosmic rays, general relativity, condensed-matter physics, non-linear dynamics and biophysics. A series of lectures presented twice per week by University of Chicago faculty provides an overview of some of the most important research topics currently pursued in these areas of physics and provides students with exposure to the depth and unity of physics. At the end of the program, in addition to writing a short research report on their work, each student gives a presentation describing the research that they did in the laboratory. During the summer, the interns are given tours of the two close-by national laboratories that are managed by the University: Argonne National Laboratory and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. Some examples that show the breadth in subject matter of the research projects in which the REU interns have participated are: Jose Almaguer (supervised by Prof. Henry Frisch) "Signal Development in Micro-channel Plate Anodes"; Maria Tioncgo (supervised by Prof. Stephan Meyer) "Testing Detectors for the South Pole Telescope"; Barnabas Kipapa (supervised by Prof. Juan Collar) "Electrostatic Radon Detection"; Michael Zakrajsek (supervised by Prof. Young-Kee Kim) "Studies of Z --> mu-mu+ and a search for Z + mu at the Tevatron"; Zuri McClelland (supervised by Prof. Sidney Nagel) "Splashing in the Low Velocity Regime"; and Rhondale Tso (supervised by Prof. Robert Wald) "Non equatorial Charge Particle Motion About a Kerr Black Hole in a Uniform Magnetic Field". We have made a great deal of progress in meeting our fundamental objectives. We have introduced a very large number of minority and women students to research in physics. Out of a total of 42 students directly supported by this award, 25 students are minorities, underrepresented in science (9 African American, 14 Hispanic, and 2 Native American) and 23 are female. Based on our past experience, we estimate that the majority of these individuals intend to apply to graduate school at the completion of their undergraduate program. Also we expect that many of our REU interns will continue in scientific careers and do exceedingly well in obtaining national fellowships. For example, among the students directly supported under this current award, six students have received the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.
