��˾�� Receives $325,000 Grant from NSF in Support of Summer Research Program

WOOSTER, Ohio � ��˾�� was awarded a grant of $326,132 on Tuesday from the National Science Foundation, extending support to the department of physics� long-running and successful Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) site.
The three-year grant supports ��˾��s , which closely guides undergraduates in publishable research projects for 10 weeks each summer. The NSF agrees that �this REU site has had a significant impact on science and on the retention of students in science and helps build the technological workforce that is essential to our nation�s future,� as cited by .
Among the research to take place will be the continuation of �its long-running granular flow experiment allowing investigation of critical phenomena like avalanches and earthquakes; its reaction-diffusion simulation that sheds light on wave-front recovery in damaged cardiac tissue; and its on-going study of a unique swellable glass, discovered at ��˾��, which will inform its commercial use in environmental remediation projects.�
It is notable that this program welcomes a wide variety of students, from novice undergraduates to students attending two-year colleges or other institutions where research opportunities are scarce as well as those at prestigious liberal arts institutions, including ��˾��s own. Overall, students have come from 52 colleges or universities in 21 states since the program�s inception in 1994.
�The ��˾�� REU site will provide an environment for young students to learn the tools and techniques of scientific research that spans a broad range of fields, such as granular materials, spatiotemporal pattern formation, swellable glass, quantum optics, nonlinear dynamics, celestial mechanics, and astrophysics,� said John Lindner, professor of physics at ��˾�� and the principal investigator of the grant. �Each student takes ownership of an individual project, conducts original research, and becomes a practicing scientist through the research project. Students also benefit from making oral and poster presentations as well as written reports.�
Past summer research at ��˾��s REU site has contributed to 35 scientific papers involving 57 undergraduate co-authors in such journals as the �Physical Review.�Results have also been featured twice on the cover of the �American Journal of Physics,� and in news stories in �Physics Today� and �Nature News.�
Susan Lehman, chair of the physics department at ��˾��, is the co-principal investigator, while also assisting are faculty members Paul Bonvallet (chemistry), Laura DeGroot (physics), Cody Leary (physics), and Niklas Manz (physics).
For more information, including a link to a student application, visit .