REU Site: Space Physics Research Laboratory, University of Michigan

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ATM 0851175This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).The project will enable ten undergraduate students per year to participate in scientific research for three months per year at the University of Michigan in the Space Physics Research Laboratory through a Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) site program. The Space Physics Research Laboratory is a broad interdisciplinary research organization that is part of the Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences within the College of Engineering at the university. The Department has 46 faculty members, including 26 research faculty. The goal of the lab's REU program is to attract, motivate and train undergraduates in the geosciences, specifically within three areas of interest to the Atmospheric Sciences Division of NSF, namely, Magnetospheric Physics, Aeronomy, and Atmospheric Chemistry. The students will be exposed to projects in a variety of areas such as Airglow and Atmospheric Science, Space Plasma Physics, Ionospheres and Magnetospheres, Air Pollution Transport, Planetary Atmospheres, and Lidars. Activities will include hands-on experience working with instrumentation that has flown or will fly in space, conducting in situ or remote sensing measurements of the atmosphere, fabricating and calibrating state-of-the-art instruments and devices, and using and/or developing software packages to analyze the measurements and manipulate large data bases. Additional activities for the participants include attending weekly seminars, preparing a written report of their research, and orally presenting their findings to the other students and interested faculty and staff. Students will interact with their research advisors, who also serve as mentors, as well as other participants in the program and with graduate students, faculty members, and research staff at the Space Physics Lab. Some of the projects will result in journal publications or presentations at scientific meetings. Special efforts are being made to recruit women and underrepresented groups to the program. The goal is to engender interest and research experience in the atmospheric and space sciences in students who might pursue these areas as a career.