REU/RET Site Program at the National Solar Observatory

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This award will continue the National Solar Observatory (NSO) Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) / Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) program with the funding of six students and four teachers per summer. The NSO offers a unique educational opportunity by providing direct access to world-class research facilities and scientific staff in solar physics research. The NSO provides the solar physics community with a suite of world-class telescopes that enable studies of the solar interior, photosphere, chromosphere and corona. With direct use of these facilities, or by using data previously taken with NSO telescopes, students will be mentored in projects ranging from studies of the Alfvén waves in the solar corona to measurements of the plasma flows in the solar interior below coronal mass ejections. NSO REU students enjoy exposure to the intense research environment at the Sacramento Peak telescope facilities, and to the university environment of the Tucson location; at both sites, the REU students mix with graduate students and post-doctoral researchers in addition to their scientific mentors. The REU students' independence is fostered by requiring research talks at the end of the summer.The NSO REU/RET Site has a goal of serving a diverse group of students, including those from research universities and those from smaller schools that normally would not have access to forefront research projects. The NSO program has served an audience with a gender and ethnic diversity comparable to that of the general physics and astronomy undergraduate population, and continues to work to increase REU and RET participant ethnic diversity.This site is co-funded by the Department of Defense in partnership with the NSF Division of Astronomical Sciences under the NSF REU program.