REU Site Program: Condensed Matter and Laser Physics

1. REU Site Program: Condensed Matter and Laser Physics REU Program at Montana State UniversityJohn Neumeier and Yves Idzerda, Montana State University - Bozeman DMR0552458 • For ten weeks in the summer of 2006, we hosted 12 REU participants (chosen from 38 applicants) and 4 RET participants (chosen from 9 applicants). • Demographics: REU participants - 12 total - 8 Male, 4 Female (1 Native American). • RET participants - 4 total - 1 Male, 3 Female (1 part-time). • Activities: Laboratory Research - begins on the first day of the program. • Weekly Meeting - discussions of Nobel prize winning Condensed Matter and Laser Physics. • End of Program Presentations - participants give a seminar or poster presenting their results. • Social Activities - two picnics, hikes, stargazing trip to Yellowstone • National Park, and a whitewater rafting trip. REU participants from both the Solar and Condensed Matter Programs at Yellowstone National Park. Kathleen Lask from Southern Illinois University grinding quartz for her project. RET participant Suzie Flentie and her electrolysis demonstration she constructed for her Junior High class.

2. REU Site Program: Condensed Matter and Laser Physics REU Program at Montana State UniversityJohn Neumeier and Yves Idzerda, Montana State University - Bozeman DMR0552458 • Some of the students and their projects • Jamy Moreno, Richard Stockton State College, New Jersey, Electrical Transport Properties of a One-Dimensional Compound • Michael Sykora, University of Wisconsin – River Falls, Surface Plasmons and Nanoparticles • Marc Binney, Winona State University, Winona, Minnesota, Ion Beam Studies of CoMnO Coated Steel • Kathleen Lask, Southern Illinois University - Carbondale, Construction of a Thermal Expansion Device for High Resolution Measurements at High Temperature • Davis Taylor, Whitman College, Walla Walla, Washington, Improved Strength and Thermal Expansion Anode Compositions for use in Anode Supported Solid Oxide Fuel Cells • Chris Stocking, University of Utah and Matt Fletcher, Seattle Pacific University, Seattle, Washington, Photon Echoes and Optical Excitation of Two-level Systems • Jamie Niesz, Michigan State University, Stimulated Receptor-Ligand Interaction Measurements Using Atomic Force Spectrometry • Michael Carroll, University of Utah and Charles (Chaz) Miller, Muskingham College, New Concord, Ohio, Synthesis and Characterization of Proton Conducting Ceramic Materials • Desirée Peone, Salish and Kootenai College, Pablo, Montana, Experimental Characterization of Two-Photon Materials for Fast Rewritable Optical Storage Data • Some of the teachers and their projects • Suzie Flentie, Lewistown Junior High School, Lewistown, Montana, Integrating Current Physics Technology into the • 8th Grade Classroom • Janet Jorgensen, Harlowton High School, Harlowton, Montana, Investigation of T-Rex Fossils Preserved in Sandstone • and Mudstone using Chemical and Structural Analysis • T. L. (Buck) Buchanan, Belgrade Middle School, Belgrade, Montana, Deposition of Platinum on Stainless Steel for use • in Solid Oxide Fuel Cells