REU Site: Applying the Tools of Physics to Contemporary Problems in Science and Engineering

该奖项支持伊利诺伊大学厄巴纳-香槟分校的REU网站。这项为期十周的计划包括凝聚态物理、材料物理、生物物理、核物理和高能物理、天体物理、原子物理、计算物理和复杂系统的物理研究项目。该课程向本科生介绍了科学和工程中广泛的问题，这些问题可以用物理学的工具来解决。REU项目是与教师正在进行的物理学前沿研究密切相关的原创性研究练习。学生编写的代码随后用于真实的实验，他们设计和测试真实仪器的组件，他们分析真实的数据。项目具有挑战性，但“可行”，旨在在10周的时间框架内取得可衡量的成就。广泛的研究活动得到了支持，以便参与者获得一个引人入胜的介绍，了解物理学各主要分学科的前沿研究机会的广度。除了研究技能，本科生还会接受有价值的技术沟通技能、团队合作技能和研究道德方面的培训，以及关于职业选择的信息和讨论。该计划还将努力确保学生的进步和成功，除了教师顾问外，还将指定个别研究小组中的一名研究生或博士后作为个人“导师”，安排频繁和定期的师生互动，并促进REU学生和伊利诺伊州更大的物理界之间的大学关系。在课程期间，学生将作三次口头报告：第一周5分钟的介绍性报告；第六周10-15分钟的非正式“进展”报告，以及最后一周的正式APS式报告。来自物理学研究项目有限的学术机构的有才华的本科生将被特别招募并鼓励他们申请，历史上代表性不足的少数群体的学生也是如此。

This award supports an REU site at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The ten week program involves Physics research projects in condensed matter physics, materials physics, biological physics, nuclear and high-energy physics, astrophysics, atomic physics, computational physics, and complex systems. The program introduces undergraduate students to the broad range of problems in science and engineering that can be addressed using the tools of physics. The REU projects are original research exercises intimately related to ongoing faculty research at the cutting edge of physics. Students write code that is subsequently used in real experiments, they design and test components for real instruments, and they analyze real data. Projects are challenging but "doable" and are designed to achieve measurable accomplishments in the 10-week time frame. A wide range of research activities are supported so that participants receive an engaging introduction to the breadth of forefront research opportunities in the major subdisciplines of physics. In addition to research skills, undergraduates receive valuable training in technical communications skills, teamwork skills, and research ethics, and information and discussion on career choices. The program will also work to ensure student progress and success by assigning a graduate student or postdoc in the individual research groups as a personal "mentor" in addition to the faculty adviser, scheduling frequent and regular student-faculty interactions, and promoting collegial relationships among the REU students and the larger Physics community at Illinois. Students will present three oral reports during the program: a 5-min introductory talk during the first week; an informal 10-15-min "progress" report during the sixth week, and a formal APS-style presentation in the final week. Talented undergraduate students from academic institutions having limited research programs in physics will be especially recruited and encouraged to apply, as are students who are members of historically under-represented minority groups.