REU Site: Summer Research in Physics and Astronomy at UC Santa Barbara

This award supports a Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) site in Physics at the University of California-Santa Barbara. The site will support eight students per year for nine weeks of summer research in topics including Astronomy/Astrophysics, Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics, Biophysics/Physics of Living Systems, Condensed Matter Physics, Gravity, Elementary Particle Physics. The REU is intended to be a transformative experience in the career path of the participants, particularly those from institutions with fewer research opportunities, by providing the necessary mentorship to explore their interest in Physics and develop the professional skills needed to succeed in a career in academia or industry. The project will develop research and professional skills of the next generation of academic physicists and the STEM workforce by giving undergraduates the opportunity to participate in cutting edge research, with faculty who have extensive experience in fostering undergraduate research from Freshman to Senior level students. The REU students will engage in research to explore black hole entropy, search for new Physics at the LHC, study the dynamics of morphogenesis, study galaxy formation, discover exoplanets, investigate novel Josephson junctions, perform quantum simulation using ultracold quantum gases, contributing to the creation and advancement of knowledge in a broad variety of research areas, at the same time learning the skills that transfer to a variety of STEM careers. 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.