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Summer jobs
Nine undergraduate physics students spent their summer in Ames working
on research projects.
It's something that Marzia Rosati, assistant professor of physics and
astronomy, has wanted to offer for several years. In fact it's a dream
that dates back to her own undergraduate education.
"I wish I could have had this opportunity," she says.
Instead Rosati and the physics and astronomy department had to settle
on offering the Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program this
past summer. Through a three-year National Science Foundation (NSF) grant,
the department established a 10-week internship program on the Iowa State
campus.
Nine students from colleges and universities across the Midwest were selected
to participate last summer in the first year of the grant. Internships
were provided to the undergraduate physics majors with ongoing Iowa State
research groups in condensed matter, high energy, nuclear physics and
astrophysics. Each student was assigned a faculty mentor and carried out
well-defined projects within those research groups.
Rosati, who coordinates the REU project, had explored offering such a
program in recent years. Several other college physics departments offer
similar programs, as have other academic departments at Iowa State. The
main difference however is that the students participating in REU do not
receive academic credit nor are they required to take classes on campus.
"We wanted to provide the undergraduate students with a research
experience solely," Rosati said. "We felt if we included classes
that would be taking away from the real reason why they were in the program."
A series of lectures and other seminars are offered, but Rosati says all
deal with general research skills. The group also had the opportunity
to visit the Fermi Lab in Illinois, a major physics research facility.
The program is designed to help the undergraduates (all will be seniors
next fall at their respective colleges) make the transition into grad
school.
"This internship will give them a good view of what they can expect
as graduate students," Rosati said, "and hopefully it will help
them make a decision on what type of field of study they want to go into."
For Samuel Pagel, a student at Wisconsin's St. Norbert College, this was
his second such internship after attending a similar program at the University
of North Dakota. Rosati was his faculty mentor and he assisted her on
her research on nuclear matter through the study of particle production
in ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions. Pagel was responsible for sorting
data and assisting with analysis on the project.
Most of his research was conducted on campus, but he did have the opportunity
to travel with Rosati to the Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York,
the home to a new accelerator essential to the research.
While there is a great advantage for students like Pagel to participate
in REU, there is a benefit to the physics and astronomy department as
well. Of the nine students in Iowa State's program, only one is an Iowa
State student.
"One of the main goals with this program is to make our department
and our research efforts more visible to other colleges throughout the
Midwest," Rosati said.
"All these students have top grades and come from excellent colleges,"
she continued. "We would like for them to continue on to graduate
school anywhere, but we feel if they have a good experience at Iowa State
then they will look closer at us when it is time to make their decision."
Around LAS
August 28 to September 3, 2000
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