The Research Experience in the Undergraduate Lab

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An ongoing project is enhanced in order to bring the methods and experiences of basic research to a laboratory course for undergraduate physics majors. The course, which has been taught for 3 years, includes such elements as required library research, timed oral presentations before a skeptical audience, and reports in the format of journal manuscripts. Students work in small teams on open-ended but time-limited research projects, some of which are drawn from current research literature (quantum conductance in nanocontacts, sonoluminescence, colloidal crystals...). This project provides instrumentation, computers, and software that closely duplicate those used in a typical research environment. The goal is to train students in some of the actual methods, instruments, and data-reduction packages that they are likely to use in their future careers, as opposed to "model" or "student" versions. These needs are addressed by five powerful data acquisition and reduction stations, each consisting of a computer with a data-acquisition board, a GPIB interface and research-quality multimeter, together with LabView data-acquisition software and several full-featured data-reduction and presentation packages (MathCad, Mathematica, and Origin). In addition there is more specialized GPIB instrumentation (frequency counters, digital oscilloscopes, function generators, and lock-ins), as well as a shared printer for graphing and preparation of viewgraphs and reports. Although targeted to junior-level physics majors (for whom it is required), this course in its enhanced form is expected to attract students from other scientific and technical majors. This research model for upper level laboratory equips the students with useful skills in verbal and written communication, as well as instrumentation and data analysis.