Session E1: Plenary III

Saturday, October 20, 2007

I will describe how undergraduate physics students can become involved in research work in theoretical atomic and laser physics. This is an ideal research area in which even high school students or students in their Freshman year can actively contribute by performing a wide variety of computer simulations. I will also describe how the curriculum of physics department has evolved in the last thirty years to make student research work one of its center missions. Illinois State University has a Bachelor's degree sequence in computational physics that was created to foster student-faculty collaborative research projects. Originally intended as a recruitment tool, it turned into a retention tool for our majors. I will give a few examples of research projects that involve undergraduate students in an essential way. These range from classical mechanical simulations to accompany of our studies of how matter in form of electron-positron pairs can be created from vacuum to bio-optical imaging schemes.   

Saturday, October 20, 2007

How can one best stimulate and nourish those significant laboratory experiences with students that can ``light a fire?''$^{1 }$Students are quick to detect when novel and interesting approaches to apparatus, procedure, and analysis are sought and anticipated, and it can radically change the ``What do you want us to do next?'' atmosphere that sometimes is present in either introductory or advanced labs. While a spirit of research may be difficult or disingenuous to seek for some rather constrained advanced lab exercises, it should surely be laid-out as a desired outcome for more open-ended projects. In optical physics and metrology (Fourier optics, Faraday effect, sonoluminescence, high-speed interferometry, Schlieren, and holographic measurements), I will highlight several engaging examples where student driven experimental physics has blossomed within our advanced labs, and subsequently morale and career choices have been impacted. $^{1}$W. B. Yeats, ``Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.''