REU Site: Solar and Heliospheric Physics at University of Alabama in Huntsville and Marshall Space Flight Center

首席研究人员(PI)将在阿拉巴马大学亨茨维尔分校的校园内举办太阳和日球层物理学“本科生研究体验”(REU)项目。该REU项目的主要目标将是吸引和教育本科生，以提高这些学生在科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)领域的留存。PI将通过让本科生(特别是大一或大二)接触到当今从事太阳和日球层物理工作的科学家和工程师使用的最先进的应用程序和工具来实现这一点。学生的研究项目将包括将来自航天器和地面观测站的观测与理论建模和大规模数值模拟相结合，以回答关于太阳(以及其他恒星)及其相互作用、地球和太阳系其他行星以及星际介质的基本问题。阿拉巴马大学的团队将与附近位于亨茨维尔的NASA马歇尔太空飞行中心合作，让REU的学生参与科学数据分析、理论数值建模和计算机模拟，以及现代仪器设计和测试。这个拥有不同技能和兴趣的教师和研究科学家的混合体是美国最大的太阳和日球层物理学家群体之一，也是美国东南部唯一这样的群体。这个REU网站将强调招收少数族裔学生、非研究型大学的学生，特别是一年级和二年级的学生。私人投资机构已经确定了非研究型大学以及历史上的黑人学院和大学(HBCU)进行招生。PIs指出，学生参与研究已被证明是留住大学STEM专业的一种非常成功的方法。PIS还解释说，更好地了解太阳和日光层对社会至关重要，因为空间天气可能对人类文明和现代技术产生影响。

The Principal Investigators (PIs) will host a solar and heliospheric physics "Research Experiences for Undergraduates" (REU) program on the campus of the University of Alabama at Huntsville. The primary goal of this REU program will be to engage and educate undergraduate students in order to improve retention of these students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. The PIs will accomplish this by exposing undergraduates (particularly freshman or sophomores) to state-of-the-art applications and tools used by scientists and engineers working in solar and heliospheric physics today. Student research projects will involve combining observations from spacecraft and ground-based observatories with theoretical modeling and large-scale numerical simulations, to answer fundamental questions about the Sun (and other stars by extension) and its interaction the Earth and other planets in the solar system, as well as the interstellar medium beyond. The University of Alabama team will collaborate with the nearby NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville to involve REU students in scientific data analysis, theoretical numerical modeling, and computer simulations, as well as modern instrument design and testing. This mixture of faculty and research scientists with diverse skills and interests is one of the largest groups of solar and heliospheric physicists in the country, and the only such group in the southeastern United States.This REU site will emphasize the recruitment of minority students, students from non-research universities, and specifically freshman and sophomore students. The PIs have already identified non-research universities, as well as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), for their student recruitment. The PIs note that student participation in research has been demonstrated to be a highly successful method for retaining STEM majors at universities. The PIs also explain that a better understanding of the Sun and heliosphere is fundamentally important to society because of the impacts space weather can have on human civilization and modern technologies.