REU SITE: A Pilot Distributed REU Site Focused on Serving Physics and Astronomy Students from Comprehensive and Community Colleges

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This pilot for a distributed Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) site at Central Washington University (CWU) provides opportunities to six undergraduate students each summer for ten weeks of research on topics in physics disciplines such as lasers, optics, spectroscopy, biophysics, surface and materials science and in astronomy. The REU students will conduct the research at Central Washington University, Wright State University, College of Charleston, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, Austin Peay State University, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, or Weber State University. In addition to participating in research with an experienced mentor, the students will engage in weekly activities to ensure not only that their research stays on track but that they have an engaging collegial and scholarly experience. These activities will take place at CWU, as well as at the other research sites. By the end of the program, every student will have written a research report and presented the results of their work in a talk or a poster. This REU site will have a number of broader impacts with its focus on providing research opportunities to undergraduates to help prepare them for future science, technology, engineering, and mathematics careers. Additionally, the site focuses on providing research opportunities to students from institutions with small or no research programs in physics and from community colleges. The site has a strong plan to recruit students from groups underrepresented in physics. The project will be guided by an evaluation, led by a team of evaluators, who will assess how well this distributed model works and subsequently disseminate the findings.