Week One
Choosing Research Groups & Reading Background Materials
Alex George
Monday, May 26, 2008—
I arrived after a flight to Kansas
City International and a van ride to campus.
I met most of the other REU participants as well as the program
coordinators (Larry
Weaver and Kristen
Corwin), and we had dinner in Aggieville.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008—
Paperwork was taken care of,
followed by presentations on the projects available in Theoretical Atomic,
Molecular, and Optical Physics; High Energy Physics; Experimental Atomic,
Molecular, and Optical Physics; and Condensed Matter Physics.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008—
Presentations
on the projects available in cosmology; Experimental Atomic, Molecular, and
Optical Physics; and Physics Education. We ranked our top choices for projects. At an ice cream social at Dr. Weaver’s house,
we were given our assignments.
Thursday, May 29, 2008 –
On Thursday
we started reading the background information on the project itself. Specifically, we were assigned to research:
We also had a meeting to discuss
the many preliminary questions we had from our readings.
Friday, May 30, 2008—
We presented our four articles in
our groups, after spending most of the morning finishing reading. We then met the rest of the REU students for
lectures – Dr. Weaver gave one on waves & lasers; then a philosophy
professor gave the first in a weekly series of lectures on professional ethics
as they apply to physicists.