Phys 480 – Advertised Opportunities -- 2008-2009

  1. What are you going to do next summer? Interested in doing research at a large university? Check out the National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates Program, the Department of Energy's internship and scholarship opportunities, and the NASA Undergraduate Research Program.
  2. Science and Engineering Student Internship 2009
  3. Research Experience for Undergraduates(REU) summer program in the Department of Physics at Boston College
  4. Seven pennies are arranged in a hexagonal, planar pattern so as to touch each neighbor and there is one central penny. Each penny is a uniform disk of mass m and radius r. What is the moment of inertia of the system of seven pennies about an axis that passes through the center of the central penny and is normal to the plane of the pennies?

a)       (7/2) mr^2

b)       (13/2) mr^2

c)       (29/2) mr^2

d)      (49/2) mr^2

e)       (55/2) mr^2

  1. NASA OFFERS NEW SCIENCE TEACHING CERTIFICATE PROJECT WASHINGTON -- NASA has unveiled the Endeavor Science Teaching Certificate Project, which will award more than 200 fellowships to educators during a five year period. Educators accepted into the project will be exposed to current NASA science and engineering and supported in translating the information for use in classrooms.

The goal of the project is to ensure that teachers across the country can use the discoveries that NASA makes on a daily basis to inspire the next generation of explorers, scientists, engineers, and astronauts.

The program will provide workshops, online and on-site graduate courses and NASA content and materials to teachers and students in K-12 classrooms. NASA will work in partnership with state departments of education to ensure program participants can apply credit from project courses towards state certification requirements.

 

"Through the program, educators will learn to deliver cutting-edge science into the classroom, promoting science, technology, engineering and mathematics education," said Joyce L. Winterton, assistant administrator for education at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "This will include proven NASA and NASA-sponsored educational resources to meet specific learning goals."

 

Project fellows will earn a certificate of completion in Applied Science Education from Teachers College Innovations at Teachers College, Columbia University, N.Y., and graduate credit from other institutional partners.

 

Additional project efforts include assisting and training pre-service science teachers to help improve science instruction in U.S. schools.

 

The project will be administered by the U.S. Satellite Laboratory Inc. of Rye, N.Y. Funding for the program is provided through the NASA Endeavor Teacher Fellowship Trust Fund, in tribute to the dedicated crew of the space shuttle Challenger.

 

For additional information about the Endeavor Science Teaching Certificate Project and other NASA education programs, visit:

 

http://www.nasa.gov/education

  1. What did Steve average in two games of bowling this past weekend?

a)      115

b)      127

c)      149

d)     165

e)      Steve did not bowl

7.      I would like to ask you to pass along some information to any interested physics, chemistry, or other science major about the REU program in Materials Research at JMU. Our program is different from some other REU programs in a few ways.

 

It is specifically designed for younger students.

If you have students who have just completed their first year of physics and chemistry and would benefit from the opportunity to work in a research lab, we aim to meet their needs. This means that our REU students work directly with faculty at a primarily undergraduate institution where they can be closely mentored and nurtured. We do not require that the students have advanced course work nor do we really expect them to be only the top students in the class. Most valuable to us is the student who has demonstrated ambition, hard work, and the common sense and level-headedness needed to work in research.

 

We are specifically aiming to serve students in the mid-Atlantic region.

There are a large number of primarily undergraduate colleges and universities in our part of the east coast. We try to bring students from these schools so that they can more easily communicate between JMU and their home institution. In some cases, collaborations have grown from the REU projects students have worked on.

 

We have a truly interdisciplinary program.

The faculty in our program come from chemistry, physics, geology, mathematics, and integrated science and technology departments. Similarly, the students will find themselves working beside students who may come from different majors. However, because of this, we are listed on the NSF's list of REU program under materials science, and therefore may not be found as easily by the physical science majors we are targeting. We gladly welcome applications from all relevent sciences, engineering, and mathematics.

 

Our program is solely undergraduate.

Since there are no graduate students in our materials labs, the undergraduate students in our program get to be the primary users of equipment such as our SEMs, AFMs, clean room, e-beam lithography tool, NMRs, x-ray diffractometer, and spectroscopic ellipsometer. Our research projects include everything from computational modeling of crystallization to carbon nanotubes to granular mechanics. Students typically work in groups with other undergraduates under the close supervision of our faculty members and there are social events and field trips to round out the experience.

 

Our deadline for applications is approaching, but if I know that an application is coming and simply delayed by spring break or other issues, I will accept it within a reasonable time frame. Our web site is at http://csm.jmu.edu/matsreu. The application is an online form, and references will be accepted by email. We offer $4,000 for ten weeks of research beginning after Memorial Day and ending on July 31 along with housing in on-campus apartments if needed. The program is limited to US citizens and permanent residents. Please let me know if there are any questions.