Research Careers for Minority Scholar in Condensed Matter Physics

俄克拉荷马州立大学将建立一个少数民族学者研究职业项目，以增加黑人、美国印第安人和拉美裔在凝聚态物理领域的代表性。该项目将由三个相互支持的阶段组成。(1)在初三和高三之间的暑期为学生提供的本科生研究实习。这将使他们在知识前沿的研究生涯中感到兴奋。(2)在他们完成学士学位之后的“过渡暑期”，为他们提供从本科生到研究生的连续学习途径，继续他们的研究，并给他们一个提前完成论文问题的开始。这种连续性很重要，因为许多美国学生迷失在研究职业生涯中，因为他们进入了就业市场的理工科水平。(3)支持他们第一年的研究生学习，包括让他们有机会成为少数族裔本科生的榜样。该项目将重点研究光学材料的性质，这是一个具有巨大工业和学术兴趣的领域。俄克拉荷马州立大学是美国领先的光学材料研究中心之一。该计划的所有阶段都将通过参加科学会议和座谈会，提供与更大的科学界以及俄亥俄州立大学教职员工和学生互动的机会。这将帮助少数族裔学者在物理界建立他们的网络，这对于成为成功和多产的研究物理学家是如此重要。在这项提案涵盖的五年内，该计划将使目标群体中准备从事凝聚态物理研究的学生数量增加近一倍。

Oklahoma State University will establish a Research Careers for Minority Scholars project to increase the representation of Blacks, American Indians, and Hispanics in the field of Condensed Matter Physics. The project will consist of three mutually supporting phases. (1) An undergraduate research internship for students in the summer between their Junior and Senior years. This will introduce them to the excitement of a research career on the forefront of knowledge. (2) A "bridging summer" immediately following their completion of the baccalaureate degree to provide a continuous path from undergraduate to graduate study, continue their involvement in research, and give them a head start toward completion of a thesis problem. This continuity is important since many U.S. students are lost to research careers because they enter the job market at the B.S. level. (3) Support for their first year of graduate study including opportunities for them to serve as role models for minority undergraduates. The project will emphasize research in the properties of optical materials, an area with great industrial, as well as academic, interest. Oklahoma State University is one of the leading American research centers in optical materials. All phases of the program will provide, through attendance at scientific conferences and colloquia, the opportunity to interact with the larger scientific community as well as OSU faculty, staff and students. This will aid the Minority Scholars in building their network within the physics community that is so important in becoming successful and productive research physicists. Over the five years covered by this proposal the program will approximately double the number of students from the targeted groups who are preparing for research careers in Condensed Matter Physics.