REU Site: Summer Research in Physics at the University of Arkansas

非技术总结由材料研究部，刺激竞争性研究的既定计划（EPSCoR）和物理学部共同资助，阿肯色州大学将举办一个本科生研究经验（REU）网站，为学生提供令人兴奋的研究机会，主要来自，但不限于，欧扎克地区和周边州的本科院校，基础设施有限或没有支持本科研究。每年，一个多元化的学生群体，包括妇女和代表性不足的少数民族在STEM领域有针对性地通过使用UA少数民族招聘计划的资源和教师和校友联系网络在HBCU和机构显著美洲原住民和西班牙裔人口以及学生谁可能没有表现得很好，但显示原创性和创造力的迹象招聘。被选中的学生参加纳米材料，凝聚态物质，软物质，生物物理学，光子学，激光，非线性和量子光学的实验和理论研究项目。他们通过经验丰富的教师，博士后学者和高年级研究生的指导，在协作环境中工作，获得解决科学问题所必需的技能和实践。他们参观高科技行业，参加专业发展活动，包括每周研讨会，实验室安全研讨会，图书馆数据库搜索，研究生院申请，口头和书面沟通技巧，参与式科学道德课程，以及与其他REU团体的社会/文化活动。计划评估过程使用学生成功的直接措施和学习和成就的间接措施（学生，导师，校友调查，出版物，演示文稿）提供指导，以不断改进REU计划并扩大其影响。REU网站的许多参与者继续研究生学习或毕业后直接在STEM领域找到工作。技术总结每个REU参与者都从事一个精心挑选的研究项目，这些项目来自当前感兴趣的主题，如纳米材料的特性，原子薄材料量子器件，用于检测DNA的固态纳米孔制造，石墨烯之外的二维原子材料的新特性，结构光束，非线性和量子光学中的量子相关性，超分辨率荧光显微镜，以及极端微生物和大脑的统计和非线性物理学。通过参与他们的研究项目十周，参与者接受技术培训，使用最先进的仪器，计算和分析研究技术。一些学生从事独立的短期研究项目，而另一些学生则帮助解决大型正在进行的研究项目的一小部分。他们都通过构建数据采集设备，编写数据分析软件，校准仪器，进行原理验证实验或验证理论预测的实验做出了重大贡献。他们经历了科学研究中涉及的创造性过程，从问题的形成到解决问题，起起唐斯，以及最终发现的兴奋。他们参加小组研讨会，研究，规划和讨论的审查，并通过这种互动发展教师和同行的专业网络。在夏季结束时，学生在REU研究研讨会上展示他们的研究，并以物理评论论文的格式提交最终报告。许多人继续在国家/国际科学研究会议上介绍其研究成果，并在科学研究期刊上发表基于其工作的论文。每个REU参与者都获得了先进的科学研究和软技能的科学和技术技能，成为国家科学和技术劳动力中富有成效和有思想的一员。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARYJointly funded by the Division of Materials Research, the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), and the Division of Physics, the University of Arkansas will host a Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) site that provides exciting research opportunities to students primarily from, but not exclusively to, undergraduate institutions in the Ozark region and surrounding states with limited or no infrastructure to support undergraduate research. Each year, a diverse group of students including women and underrepresented minorities in the STEM fields are targeted for recruiting by using the resources of the UA minority recruitment program and a network of faculty and alumni contacts at HBCU and institutions with significant Native American and Hispanic populations as well as students who may have not performed well in courses but show indication of originality and creativity. The selected students participate in experimental and theoretical research projects in nanoscale materials, condensed matter, soft matter, biophysics, photonics, lasers, and nonlinear and quantum optics. They acquire skills and practices essential to scientific problem solving by working in a collaborative environment through mentoring by experienced faculty, post-doctoral scholars, and senior graduate students. They visit high-tech industries, participate in professional development activities that include weekly seminars, workshops on laboratory safety, library database searches, graduate school applications, oral and written communications skills, a participatory scientific ethics course, and social/cultural activities with other REU groups. The program evaluation process uses both direct measures of student success and indirect measures (student, mentor, alumni surveys, publications, presentations) of learning and achievements to provide guidance to continually improve the REU program and broaden its impact. Many participants in the REU site continue with graduate studies or find employment directly after graduation in a STEM fields.TECHNICAL SUMMARYEach REU participant works on a carefully selected research project from topics of current interest such as properties of nanoscale materials, atomically thin material quantum devices, solid-state nanopore fabrication for detection of DNA, novel properties of two-dimensional atomic materials beyond graphene, structured light beams, quantum correlations in nonlinear and quantum optics, super-resolution fluorescence microscopy, and statistical and nonlinear physics of extremophiles and the brain. Through engagement with their research projects for ten weeks, the participants receive technical training in using the state-of-the art instruments, and computational and analytical research techniques. Some students work on stand-alone short term research projects while others help solve a small piece of a large ongoing research project. They all contribute significantly by building a device for data acquisition, writing software for data analysis, calibrating an instrument, carrying out a proof-of-principle experiment or an experiment verifying a theoretical prediction. They experience the creative process involved in scientific research starting from the formulation of a problem to its solution, the ups and downs, and the eventual thrill of a discovery. They participate in group seminars, reviews of research, planning, and discussions, and through this interaction develop a professional network of faculty and peers. At the end of the summer, students present their research at a REU research symposium and submit a final report in the format of a Physical Review paper. Many go on to present the results of their research at national/international scientific research conferences and publish papers based on their work in scientific research journals. Each REU participant leaves having acquired scientific and technical skills for advanced scientific research and softer skills to be a productive and thoughtful member of the nation’s scientific and technical workforce.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.