International REU site for Gravitational Physics

This award supports the International REU site for Gravitational Physics hosted by the Physics Department at the University of Florida, Gainesville. The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) and NSF supported Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatories (LIGO) projects take advantage of a growing number of research-able faculty at small and minority colleges in support of their research efforts. At this REU site, undergraduate students will have an opportunity to establish contact with, experience the research environment of, and work beside international collaborators involved in all aspects of gravitational wave detection. They will be encouraged to develop ongoing projects with their international partners. Exposure to research will help cultivate students' independence, while the experience in an international setting will furnish them with contacts within a global network, as they pursue their future research. The research projects they are assigned will simultaneously advance scientific knowledge and enable their personal growth.

Detection of gravitational waves requires extremely sophisticated techniques in experiment and analysis; it also involves large facilities, significant manpower and international collaborations. Research projects will take place at a variety of locations, including the Albert Einstein Institute, Hannover; APC, Paris; the National Astronomical Observatory, Tokyo; University of Glasgow; University of Birmingham; Cardiff University; University of Adelaide; Australian National University, Canberra; the University of Western Australia, Perth; Seoul National University, Seoul; Laboratoire de l'Accélérateur Linéaire, Orsay; National Institute for Subatomic Physics (NIKHEF), Amsterdam; University of Melbourne; and INFN laboratories, Italy - all in conjunction with the University of Florida. The student participants will gain experience in areas of astrophysics, computing, data analysis, electronics and optics, while pushing current technological boundaries. The experience will strengthen students' interest in scientific research, establishing contacts for them in an international, collaborative network. One of the main objectives is to clarify the student participants' future career plans by giving them a taste of what life is like as a graduate researcher, and by exposing them to the possibility of working overseas. This award advances the goals of the NSF Windows on the Universe Big Idea through the involvement of undergraduates in research in Multi-Messenger Astrophysics.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.