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Physics NSF-REU Site Director Workshop: What Did We Learn and What Questions Remain?
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Affatigato, Mario |
| Copyright Year | 2009 |
| Abstract | Undergraduates Program. The perspectives of directors of REU programs, faculty who supervised undergraduates in REU programs, and students who participated in REU programs were presented. An overview of the program and a description of the recent REU Directors Workshop were also included. Session T29 began with a presentation by Dr. Mario Affatigato, the PI of the Coe College Physics REU Site and a member of the steering committee for the NSF Physics REU Site Director Workshop. Dr. Affatigato spoke on the 2008 workshop, which was attended by representatives from 36 of the over 50 NSF Physics REU sites as well as representatives from several national professional societies for Physicists. The workshop format allowed participants to discuss both effective practices in the current REU programs as well as to learn more about effective practices in programs outside of the NSF REU Physics Sites. In particular, the participants learned about current results in assessment of undergraduate research experiences and programs that have increased the diversity in undergraduate research programs from other disciplines and discussed how to adapt/adopt these ideas for Physics REU sites. While all of the REU sites share a common goal of providing excellent research experiences for undergraduates, the degree to which the sites have assessed the impact of the experience on their participants varies greatly. The workshop provided an opportunity for participants to learn about the results of the Survey of Undergraduate Research Experiences (SURE) from the lead investigator of SURE, Dr. David Lopatto of Grinnell College. Patrick Mulvey from the American Institute of Physics shared results relating to undergraduate research experiences from the recent survey of physics bachelor recipients. As the participants had hoped, most students reported that their undergraduate research experiences had a positive impact on their decisions to pursue STEM careers. The SURE results for physics students probed the importance of specific program details in terms of their impact on the students' experience. There are a wide variety of types of REU sites. For example, while over 70% are hosted at PhD granting institutions, the remaining sites are hosted at primarily undergraduate institutions, masters-granting institutions, and non-degree granting institutions. Regardless of institution type, sites seem to receive a large number of applications each year, with nearly half of the sites reporting that they receive over 100 applications. Site directors were concerned about how to increase the reach of their programs to students that would otherwise not … |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://apps3.aps.org/aps/meetings/march09/presentations/T29Mader.pdf |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
