REU Site: Solar, Terrestrial, and Space Weather Sciences at New Jersey Institute of Technology

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This Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) site is based at NJIT's newly formed Institute for Space Weather Sciences that integrates the strength of three major research entities: the Center for Solar-Terrestrial Research, the Center for Computational Heliophysics, and the Center for Big Data. A total of eight students per year will be selected nationwide to participate in research projects in solar, terrestrial, and space weather physics for ten weeks during the summer. Space Weather is a relatively new and highly interdisciplinary field. Student training in this field is currently offered at a very limited number of U.S. universities.The program will recruit students from institutions with limited research infrastructure and from underrepresented groups. The site leaders have several years of experience in mentoring undergraduate researchers. Many research mentors are accomplished solar astronomers, terrestrial physicists, and computer scientists. Each REU participant will be paired with at least one research mentor to work on a specific research project. The participants will attend a series of lectures and workshops and participate in other career development activities throughout the program. They will present their final results at NJIT’s International Undergraduate Summer Research Symposium and a professional conference. The development of the future workforce requires (i) an increased awareness of this discipline, (ii) an introduction to professional research at the early stage of undergraduate studies, and (iii) an exposure to closely related disciplines and frequent cross-discipline communication.This site is supported by the Department of Defense in partnership with the NSF REU program.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.