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

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY

Jointly 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 SUMMARY

Each 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.