REU Site: Applying the Tools of Physics to Contemporary Problems in Science and Engineering

该奖项支持伊利诺伊大学厄巴纳-香槟分校的REU站点。这个为期十周的项目涉及凝聚态物理、材料物理、生物物理、核与高能物理、天体物理、原子物理、计算物理和复杂系统的物理研究项目。该课程向本科生介绍了科学和工程领域的广泛问题，这些问题可以使用物理工具来解决。REU项目是与正在进行的物理学前沿教师研究密切相关的原创研究练习。学生编写的代码随后将用于实际实验，他们为实际仪器设计和测试组件，并分析实际数据。项目具有挑战性，但“可行”，旨在在10周的时间框架内取得可衡量的成就。广泛的研究活动得到支持，使参与者获得一个引人入胜的介绍，在物理学的主要分支学科的前沿研究机会的广度。除了研究技能外，本科生还接受技术沟通技能、团队合作技能、研究伦理以及有关职业选择的信息和讨论方面的宝贵培训。该计划还将通过在个别研究小组中分配一名研究生或博士后作为个人“导师”，以及教师顾问，安排频繁和定期的师生互动，以及促进REU学生和伊利诺伊州更大的物理社区之间的大学关系，来确保学生的进步和成功。学生将在课程中做三次口头报告：第一周做5分钟的介绍性演讲；第六周进行10-15分钟的非正式“进度”报告，最后一周进行正式的aps风格的演示。在物理研究项目有限的学术机构中，有才华的本科生将被特别招募并鼓励申请，历史上代表性不足的少数群体的学生也是如此。

This award supports an REU site at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The ten week program involves Physics research projects in condensed matter physics, materials physics, biological physics, nuclear and high-energy physics, astrophysics, atomic physics, computational physics, and complex systems. The program introduces undergraduate students to the broad range of problems in science and engineering that can be addressed using the tools of physics. The REU projects are original research exercises intimately related to ongoing faculty research at the cutting edge of physics. Students write code that is subsequently used in real experiments, they design and test components for real instruments, and they analyze real data. Projects are challenging but "doable" and are designed to achieve measurable accomplishments in the 10-week time frame. A wide range of research activities are supported so that participants receive an engaging introduction to the breadth of forefront research opportunities in the major subdisciplines of physics. In addition to research skills, undergraduates receive valuable training in technical communications skills, teamwork skills, and research ethics, and information and discussion on career choices. The program will also work to ensure student progress and success by assigning a graduate student or postdoc in the individual research groups as a personal "mentor" in addition to the faculty adviser, scheduling frequent and regular student-faculty interactions, and promoting collegial relationships among the REU students and the larger Physics community at Illinois. Students will present three oral reports during the program: a 5-min introductory talk during the first week; an informal 10-15-min "progress" report during the sixth week, and a formal APS-style presentation in the final week. Talented undergraduate students from academic institutions having limited research programs in physics will be especially recruited and encouraged to apply, as are students who are members of historically under-represented minority groups.