This award supports a Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) site at Oakland University. The goal of the site in the Physics Department at Oakland University (OU) is to expose young students from universities and community colleges, as well as senior high-school students, to the excitement of rigorous scientific research. Projects are available in physics, materials, medical physics, and biochemistry. For ten weeks, students will participate in an intensive research program composed of one-on-one mentoring, dedicated seminars, tutorials, field trips, and social activities, culminating in a conference-style final presentation. The multidisciplinary team assembled will provide a variety of research-centered activities (tutorials, an ethics course, research intensive field trips) in a relaxed atmosphere provided by a small University campus. This award is funded by the Division of Physics with co-funding support from the Division of Materials Research.
The main outcome of the Oakland University Physics REU was its ability to confirm the existence of a vast amount of human potential in young underrepresented minorities, and, mainly, the viability of taping into it with modest investment of resources in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) disciplines. The Physics REU at Oakland University served a total of 22 students. The majority of these students came from underprivileged backgrounds. The outcomes can be better assessed by describing a few of the experiences the PI had while directing the program. These are related to two African American students, one male and one female, both coming from the same high school, which serves a region with one of the highest unemployment rates in Michigan, and with one of the lowest percentages of citizens with higher degree education. The female student, during part of the time she was in the program, was the sole bread winner in her family, so much so, that in the fourth week of the program, her family was evicted and she was living on a shelter for a couple of weeks, until extended family managed to take them in. At one point, she was diagnosed with anemia and also suffered from some sort of heart arrhythmia. As if this was not enough, her single-mother had a series of minor strokes in the past year and was unable to care for the family. Nonetheless, to compensate for the lost working hours due to these issues, the student stayed in the lab after-hours and came a few weekends to complete missed work. She developed a passion for her research, coincidentally related to stroke, and even decided to change her intended major, at Michigan State University, from Accounting to Biology. The male student worked directly with the PI and decided, after the end of his REU experience, to enroll in computer engineering at Oakland University. He proved to be, during the time he worked with me, an extremely bright student. He was able to learn the Linux computer operating system in a couple of weeks. So much so, that he has gotten a position (as a student employee) at the IT department at Oakland University. He assumed a leadership role among his student colleagues and created an association of gamers at Oakland, of which he is the current president. When he came to work with me, his knowledge of computation was very limited, mainly because of a lack of resources at home and guidance at his high school. A few words about the Pontiac school district: it was reduced to a single high school several years ago, and this remaining high school, from where we recruited the majority of our REU students, is in the process of being closed too. The Pontiac students will be dispersed to the neighboring school districts. Since the beginning of the PI's interaction with Pontiac High, this outcome seemed very likely, unfortunately. To give an idea, the whole district did not have a single Physics teacher for the last many years. The attrition rate for middle school science teachers, and staff in general at the district, was very high. In the 6 years the PI interacted with Pontiac high, he had the opportunity to meet with at least 5 different principals. That said, the passion, commitment, interest, and shear hunger for knowledge that the PI noticed in these students is way higher than that seen in the more affluent school districts the PI knows. The assumption stated at the beginning of this report, i.e., '...existence of a vast amount of human potential in underrepresented minorities, and the viability of taping into it with modest investment of resources in STEM disciplines.' rings even more true to the PI at the end of this second cycle of three years.
