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

NON-TECHNICAL PART: The Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) site at the University of Arkansas, Physics Department provides exciting research opportunities on experimental and theoretical projects in biophysics, nanomaterials, condensed matter, photonics, lasers, and quantum optics. The participants, selected, but not exclusively, from undergraduate institutions in the Ozark region and surrounding states with limited or no infrastructure to support undergraduate research will acquire skills and practices essential to scientific problem solving by working in a collaborative research environment through mentoring by experienced faculty and their research group. They will participate in professional development activities that include visit to high-tech manufacturing and STEM startup companies, weekly-seminars, workshops on laboratory-safety, machining, electronics, library-database searches, career options, oral and written communication, scientific ethics course, and educational activities with other REUs. REU participants will leave having acquired scientific and technical skills for advanced scientific research and softer skills to be a productive and thoughtful members of the nation’s scientific and technical workforce. TECHNICAL SUMMARY REU students will engage on carefully selected research projects from topics of current interest such as fabrication/characterization of novel nanoscale two-dimensional quantum materials; robotic- and AI-assisted atomically thin quantum devices; symmetries and topology in the electronic structure of quantum materials; solid-state nanopore fabrication and detection of single protein, RNA, DNA molecules; structured light beams; quantum correlations in quantum optics; super-resolution fluorescence and phase-contrast microscopy for studying biological systems; and statistical and nonlinear physics of extremophiles and the brain. Through engagement on their research projects, the participants will receive technical training in using the state-of-the art instruments, and computational and analytical research techniques. They will contribute 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 will participate in workshops, group seminars, reviews of research, planning, and discussions, and through this interaction develop a professional network of faculty and peers. Working on their projects, they will experience the creative and collaborative process involved in scientific research, starting from the formulation of a problem to its solution, through ups and downs to the eventual thrill of a discovery. At the end of the summer, students will present their research at a REU research symposium and submit a final report in the format of a Physical Review paper. Many will present the results of their research at national/international scientific research conferences and publish papers based on their work in scientific research journals. 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. NSF Award ID: 2547774 | Program: 01002627DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT | Principal Investigator: Reeta Vyas | Institution: University of Arkansas, FAYETTEVILLE, AR | Award Amount: $484,603 View on NSF Award Search: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/show-award/?AWD_ID=2547774 View on Research.gov: https://www.research.gov/awardapi-service/v1/awards/2547774.html