Intellectual Merit

During the five summers from 2010 to 2014, this award supported 29 students (28 unique individuals) as participants in the Hope College Physics Summer Research Program. Through a combination of other awards and internal funds, the Summer Research Program supported a total of 83 students (56 unique individuals). The participants were engaged in faculty-student collaborative research during their summer research appointment, with duration between 9 and 12 weeks each summer (5 or 6 weeks for the case of an incoming freshman student). Each research participant worked closely with their own faculty research mentor on an individual research project. No graduate students were situated between the REU undergraduates and the faculty mentors. The research topics included astrophysics, nuclear physics, superconductivity, electrochemistry, plasma physics, and nanoscale science.

All of the students participated in the summer research seminar series, which includes topics such as laboratory and machine shop safety, keeping a good laboratory notebook, applying to graduate school, being an effective teaching assistant, use of graphics and analysis programs as well as common laboratory instruments, preparing abstracts and scientific presentations (oral and poster), and research ethics. At the end of the summer program, the students wrote abstracts and gave oral presentations describing their work and constructed posters for presentation at scientific meetings.

Broader Impacts

Of the 28 unique individuals supported, 9 were female (32%) and 4 were underrepresented minorities (14%). Of the 29 supported positions during the five summers, 20 were students who had not yet entered their junior year of college (69%). Supporting early college students in research was a very successful theme of this program. These demographics are similar to those of the entire Physics Summer Research Program. Of the supported students, 15 were from institutions other than Hope College (54%). These institutions spanned the range from small colleges (Washington & Jefferson College, Morehouse College, Calvin College, Rhodes College, St. Olaf College, Grinnell College), to universities of various sizes (University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Grand Valley State University (GVSU), Park University, Clemson University, Rensselaer Polytechnic University, University of Rochester, Wayne State University, Carnegie Mellon University), to two-year colleges (Oakton Community College).

This award greatly enhanced the existing undergraduate research program in the Hope College Department of Physics by more ways than simply increasing the number of participants. First, this award brought in students from institutions that do not normally have research opportunities. This has resulted in a permanent connection for undergraduates from GVSU to have both capstone and summer research experiences at Hope College funded by other NSF awards to Hope faculty PIs. Second, involving a large number of first-year college students in undergraduate research aids the recruiting and retention of physics majors for the American workforce.

Because of our focus on supporting younger students for summer research, many of the students supported with this award are still enrolled at their undergraduate institution. REU-supported alumni have gone on to graduate school in a number of disciplines, including physics and materials science, at schools such as University of California, Irvine, Purdue University, and University of Tennessee. Others have transitioned to employment in the private sector.

To date, the research completed by the REU-supported students has resulted in over 40 presentations at regional, national, and international conferences, including conferences of the American Physical Society, American Chemical Society, American Astronomical Society, and A...

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