REU Site: Physics/JILA

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This award supports the renewal of the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) site at the University of Colorado/JILA. The intellectual focus of this REU program is physics, and undergraduate students are paired up with preeminent faculty to do cutting-edge research in many fields of physics, including atomic, molecular, and optical physics, biophysics, condensed matter, high energy physics, plasma physics, and physics education research. Examples of potential REU projects include theoretical simulation of the interaction of an atom with ultrashort laser pulses, performing microwave spectroscopy of ammonia molecules, fabricating patterned membrane microresonators, imaging biological structures with atomic force microscopy, using optical tweezers to manipulate and study bacteria cell-to-cell communications, building a magnetic susceptometer for measurements of the superconducting critical temperature of high temperature superconductors, developing and testing of prototype muon detectors, characterizing performance of an electrostatic dust accelerator, and researching the effectiveness of teaching strategies. While the main emphasis of the summer is centered on each student?s individual research lab, where the students are expected to master at least a part of a large task, a variety of other activities take place during the program. These include ethics, electronics, and machining classes, a one-day "Getting Into Grad School" program, as well as lab tours and science seminars aimed at undergraduate students. The program culminates with a day of presentations given by each of the REU students. This award is supported by the Division of Physics and the Division of Materials Research within the National Science Foundation.