The following are Physics Department Outreach Programs



The Department of Physics Lobby Exhibits opened in December 2002. The science exhibits include a T-Rex Hologram, Parabolic Dishes, a Large Plasma Ball, a Giant Guitar String, the Anti-Gravity Mirror, and a “Real-Image” Object display that changes objects periodically, the Spectra exhibit and the Chaotic Pendulum. School tour information is located in box to the right of this page. Building Exhibits and Info





UFTeach
http://ufteach.clas.ufl.edu
Coordinators: Alan Dorsey dorsey@phys.ufl.edu and Tom Dana tdana@coe.ufl.edu
The primary goal of UFTeach is to increase the quantity and quality of secondary mathematics and science teachers. This mission will be accomplished through new partnerships between the University of Florida’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and College of Education and several Florida school districts. UFTeach will use imaginative recruiting strategies to bring UF’s best and brightest into teaching.



Summer Research Program
Research Experiences for Undergraduates
http://www.phys.ufl.edu/reu/
Coordinator: Dr. Selman Hershfield hershfield@phys.ufl.edu
Since 1999, the department has run a 10-week summer research program for students who are contemplating a career in the physical sciences. Supported by the National Science Foundation and UF, the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program serves fifteen undergraduates per year, drawn to Gainesville from all over the country. Each participant carries out original research under the careful guidance of a physics faculty member. The program also offers professional-development workshops covering scientific communication skills and graduate school applications, seminars on active areas of physics research, and field trips to other scientific laboratories such as the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Tallahassee. The summer ends on a high note with a symposium at which each student presents a talk on his/her project.



International Summer Research Program in Gravitational-Wave Physics:
Research Experiences for Undergraduates around the world
http://www.phys.ufl.edu/ireu/
Coordinators: Drs. Bernard Whiting bernard@phys.ufl.edu and Guido Mueller mueller@phys.ufl.edu
With support from the National Science Foundation, and on behalf of the LIGO Scientific Collaboration, the University of Florida offers a 10-week International Research Experience for Undergraduates (IREU) program, which runs approximately from mid-May through mid-August. All research is related to gravitational wave physics, with projects ranging from instrument design and data analysis, to theory. Participating collaborations include ACIGA, GEO, LIGO, LISA, TAMA and Virgo. Students will also take part in group activities including seminars on cutting-edge areas of physics, workshops focusing on graduate programs, exposure to career opportunities in the physical sciences, and the development of scientific communications skills.

NanoJapan: Summer Nanotechnology Study Program in Japan
http://nanojapan.rice.edu/
Local Coordinator: Chris Stanton stanton@phys.ufl.edu
The NanoJapan Program addresses the needs of research and education programs by attracting young undergraduates to the emerging area of electrical engineering and the physical sciences, especially the study of nanotechnology. It is supported in part by the National Science Foundation. The program won the Haskell Award in 2008.


CHEPREO
http://www.chepreo.org
Local coordinator: Paul Avery
CHEPREO (Center for High Energy Physics Research, Education and Outreach) has established an unusually broad program involving physics education, high energy physics research, computing and international networking. The effort, based at Florida International University and supported by NSF (PHY-0312038), has partner institutions at University of Florida, Florida State University and Caltech. UF provides physics and computing support for FIU physicists and students, and additionally offers computing resources for physicists and students at the Florida institutions participating in the CMS experiment at CERN. One of CHEPREO’s long-term achievements has been the transformation of FIU’s undergraduate experience through modeling-based, guided-inquiry introductory physics classes, a fellowship program, and the establishment of the Physics Learning Center (PLC).


QuarkNet
http://quarknet.fnal.gov/
Coordinator: Thomas Jordan jordant@phys.ufl.edu
QuarkNet has ~50 centers in universities and laboratories participating in high-energy physics experiments. Initially, each center includes two mentor physicists and two high school physics teachers. Goals for teachers include a deeper understanding of physics content, an appreciation for the machinery of modern science, an introduction to inquiry-based teaching as well as evolution in individual teaching to a more student-centered mode of instruction.