| NSF Org: |
PHY Division Of Physics |
| Recipient: |
|
| Initial Amendment Date: | March 26, 2012 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | March 26, 2012 |
| Award Number: | 1157006 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Kathleen McCloud
kmccloud@nsf.gov (703)292-8236 PHY Division Of Physics MPS Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences |
| Start Date: | April 1, 2012 |
| End Date: | March 31, 2015 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $379,406.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $379,406.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
|
| History of Investigator: |
|
| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
2200 W MAIN ST DURHAM NC US 27705-4640 (919)684-3030 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
|
| Primary Place of Performance: |
2200 W. Main St, Suite 710 Durham NC US 27705-4010 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
|
| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
|
| Parent UEI: |
|
| NSF Program(s): | Integrative Activities in Phys |
| Primary Program Source: |
|
| Program Reference Code(s): |
|
| Program Element Code(s): |
|
| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.049 |
ABSTRACT
This award supports the renewal of the Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program in Physics at the Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory (TUNL) and Duke University. TUNL is a research consortium consisting of three major universities in the North Carolina Triangle Area, Duke University, North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The program will provide opportunities for a total of 12 students to participate in research on a broad range of topics in nuclear and particle physics. Eight students will conduct research at TUNL, and the other four will spend part of their summer at CERN working with the Duke high-energy physics group. This REU summer program provides undergraduate students with an active research experience through the completion of a self-contained 10-week project. Each student is assigned a faculty mentor and is integrated into a research group consisting of faculty, postdocs, graduate students and other undergraduate students. In addition, the students have opportunities to learn about the graduate programs at the consortium institutions. Through active research, seminars, lab tours, and discussion groups, the students are exposed to various aspects of nuclear and particle physics research and their connections to other science areas. Lecture and seminar topics are chosen to emphasize the nuclear and particle physics research activities at TUNL and CERN, respectively. Both student groups will have opportunities to work with state-of-the-art technologies used in these lines of research.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
Note:
When clicking on a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) number, you will be taken to an external
site maintained by the publisher. Some full text articles may not yet be available without a
charge during the embargo (administrative interval).
Some links on this page may take you to non-federal websites. Their policies may differ from
this site.
PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
The primary goal of this project was to operate a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) site in the areas of nuclear and particle physics. The site was located at the Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory (TUNL) and the physics department at Duke University in Durham, NC. The TUNL is a research consortium consisting of three major universities in the North Carolina Triangle Area: Duke University, North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC). The combination of the TUNL research community and the High-Energy Physics (HEP) group in the Duke physics department creates an educationally rich research environment for students.
Students participated in a 10-week long summer program that focused on research and included lectures for specialized training and educational broadening and social activities for community building. Each student was assigned a faculty mentor and was integrated into a research group consisting of faculty, postdocs, graduate students and other undergraduate students. This arrangement was intended to give the students a sense of what it’s like to be a graduate student conducting research at the frontiers of the field.
This REU site had both domestic and international components. The students who conducted research in experimental nuclear physics worked at TUNL or with the neutrino-physics group at Duke University. Those conducting research in particle physics worked with the Duke HEP group and spent part of the summer at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland. Also, some students conducted research in theoretical physics with groups at Duke University and the UNC. The funding by the National Science Foundation (NSF) for the site provided support for 12 undergraduate physics students to conduct research in the program each summer in 2012, 2013 and 2014, i.e., a total of 36 students participated in the project over its three-year duration. In addition, the infrastructure maintained for the program benefited other students conducting research at the TUNL institutions each summer. These students were supported by other funding sources. Photographs of the participants in each summer are attached.
Eight of the 12 students supported by the NSF each summer conducted research in nuclear physics. The four students conducting research in particle physics spent the first five weeks at Duke for integration into the HEP group and orientation to their research project and traveled to Geneva where they spent the final half of the program carrying out research at CERN.
The NSF supported students were selected from colleges and universities from around the country. Each year about 200 students applied for the 12 positions in the program. The average overall GPA of the applicant pool each year was typically above 3.5. Students were selected for the program based on their academic performance, course and skills preparation for research, and their enthusiasm for research (assessed from the personal statement). Special attention was given to advertising the program to organizations that serve underrepresented groups in STEM areas. For example, announcements were sent to the APS committee on women in physics (women@aps.org), the APS committee on minorities in physics (minority@aps.org) and the National Society of Black Physicists (lnorris@nsbp.org).
More than 50% of the NSF supported students who participated in this REU program and who have graduated with a Bachelor degree over the last three years are pursuing a graduate degree in physics or in a related field. Most of those who decided not to attend graduate school immediately after completing their undergraduate st...
Please report errors in award information by writing to: awardsearch@nsf.gov.
