Collaborative Research: Improving Upper Division Physics Education and Strengthening Student Research Opportunities at 14 HSIs in California

With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 2 project aims to improve upper division physics education and research at 14 California HSI institutions, including 11 California State University (CSU) campuses and three California Community Colleges. CSU is the largest public university system in the country with 23 campuses and approximately 490,000 students with first-generation college students and students from underrepresented minority (URM) groups making up over 50% of the student body.

The 11 CSU campuses included in this project represent approximately 55% of the total CSU student population. Physics majors at these HSI institutions have very limited upper division elective courses and research opportunities which seriously hurt their graduation rates and limit their career choices and developments.

Colliders for experimental particle physics research only exist in international and national and experimental particle physics research typically only exists in national labs and R1 universities. Very few CSU campuses have programs in experimental particle physics. This project is centered around the CSU Fresno program on the ATLAS (A Toroidal LHC ApparatuS) experiment of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN.

ATLAS is a leading project in particle physics and is poised to address some of the deepest questions in the field of particle physics, the answers to which could change our view of how the universe works. This project will provide exceptional ATLAS research opportunities to students from the 14 HSI institutions. The three online particle physics courses developed as part of this project will impact over 300 students and provide opportunities for 48 students to work on cutting-edge ATLAS research projects in the highest quality research environment during summers.

The research conducted by the participating students will advance the field of particle physics and contribute to the ATLAS data analyses and other ATLAS activities. The ATLAS research experience will create a pathway for students from underprivileged groups to excel in STEM fields. The online courses and summer research course will fulfill the upper division elective course graduation requirements.

The education research and independent external evaluation components will allow the project to carry out a systematic study of an exemplary model to improve STEM education at HSI institutions by effectively pooling and sharing resources.

This project’s focus on URM and first-generation CSU students promotes diversity in STEM. Through the CSU Fresno PHYS 168S (“Physics Outreach”) course, the ATLAS students in PHYS 168S will visit two new K-12 classrooms each week to teach K-12 students about the ATLAS and them to pursue science. The proposed outreach efforts will reach several schools, their students and students’ families in the Fresno and Central Valley areas.

This project is funded by the HSI Program, which aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs.

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.