RUI: Fundamental and Applied Nuclear Physics with Undergraduates

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A Research in Undergraduate Institutions (RUI) grant has been awarded to theHope College Nuclear Group (under the direction of Dr. Paul DeYoung and Dr.Graham Peaslee) by the National Science Foundation to support a variety ofundergraduate research projects for the next three years. The researchactivities will center on understanding the properties of unstable nuclei farfrom stability, which are essential for understanding the fundamental nuclearforce, modeling the formation of heavy elements in supernovae, and testing awide variety of nuclear theories and models. In addition, we will bedeveloping novel applications of nuclear physics techniques to questions inother scientific fields, which can lead to valuable new scientific informationin these areas. Involving undergraduate students in all of these effortseducates them, excites them, and gives them tremendous preparation forgraduate work.Specifically the Hope College Nuclear Group currently is planning tocharacterize the structure of several radioactive nuclei, including 16Be,13Li, 5H, and 9C. These studies will be done at the National SuperconductingCyclotron with the Modular Neutron Array (MoNA) and the University of NotreDame with the ND neutron wall. At the Hope College Ion Beam AnalysisLaboratory, the nuclear group will use nuclear scattering and x-rayspectrometry along with accelerator and detector technology to determinemetalloprotein stoichiometry, to characterize the trace-element constituentsof glass, and to determine the geological provenance of sand grains.Rutherford backscattering will also be used to characterize electropolymersand conduct in-situ measurements of protein fragments in gels.Undergraduate students will participate in all aspects of the experiments:planning, detector development, experiment setup, data taking, analysis, anddissemination. This grant will also provide support for a postdoctoralassociate as part of a trial effort to train future researchers that caneffectively involve undergraduate students in the setting of a primarilyundergraduate institution.**