UCD Physics REU, 2013

This REU program
was funded through
NSF PHY-1263201.

UC Davis REU Program, Summer 2013

Fourteen students (7 women, 7 men) participated in the UC Davis Physics REU in summer 2013. Several additional students doing research in the physics department attended most or all of the REU events, including an exchange student from Brazil and two students in a new pilot program with Mexico.

Research Projects (more details)

Projects were in Condensed Matter Physics, Biological Physics, Nuclear Physics, High Energy Experiment, General Relativity, and Cosmology.

Field Trips (more details)

Summer 2013 destinations included the San Francisco Exploratorium, Big Basin Redwoods State Park, Lick Observatory, the cyclotron at Crocker Nuclear Laboratory, Lassen Volcanic National Park, and Lake Tahoe including the Tahoe City Field Station portion of the Tahoe Environmental Research Center.

Other Activities

We incorporated practice for the GRE physics exam into weekly lunch meetings. One meeting towards the end of the summer was devoted to information about graduate school and the admissions process, led by the chair of our graduate admissions committee.

At the end of the program, each student gave a 15-minute research presentation and prepared a final write-up of the project. The talks were spread over two days to help the listeners stay focused.

Housing

Students lived in the Davis Student Co-operative, as they did in summer 2012. With 14 students in the building, as opposed to last summer's 11, it was cozy or crowded, depending on perspective. Several students who were not formally part of the REU joined the cooking rotation and had weekday dinners at the Co-op; at one point at least 18 students were participating and dinner was served in two shifts. Prospective REU students should certainly be aware of the down sides: lack of air conditioning, and looking like a place where a series of college students have been living for several decades (because, in fact, they have been).