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Physics Research and Education
^ Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need (GAANN)
D. K. Campbell,* J. P. Wolfe
U.S. Department of Education, P200A80724

The Department of Physics participates in the U.S. Department of Education's GAANN program to enhance the nation's capacity to prepare outstanding students, representative of our whole society, to assume roles as teachers and researchers in physics. Ten graduate student fellowships are provided that allow the department to develop a new paradigm for graduate physics education by integrating formal scholarship and research training; provide supervised teaching experiences for graduate students to broaden their intellectual range and improve their communications and presentation skills; and implement focused, aggressive recruiting efforts to bring more women, minorities, and persons with disabilities into the department.

^ Combined Research: Curriculum Development in Computational Materials Science and Nanoscale Science and Engineering
D. M. Ceperley*
National Science Foundation, NFS EEC-0088101

This project develops curricular materials for advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate-level computational materials science (CMS) courses based on cutting edge, contemporary research, with an emphasis on problems in nanoscale science and engineering. Topics include numerical methods in computational materials science, parallel and high performance computing, basic simulation methods, simulation of quantum systems, Monte Carlo methods, computational microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), computational molecular biology and computational biotechnology, and scientific visualization.

In June 2001, a summer school on computational materials science, "Spanning Length and Time Scales," brought together more than 70 faculty and advanced students from Illinois and other institutions to explore the tools and concepts used in first-principles simulations of atomic and molecular systems. The use of the fundamental laws of matter with high performance computing to enable predictions of experimental properties of materials was explored. Basic simulation and electronic-structure methods were covered in the first week of the summer school and recently developed methods for handling systems for longer times and with larger sizes were presented during the second week. Future summer schools will be held on computational electronics and MEMS (Summer 2002) and computational molecular biology (Summer 2003).

^ CSEMS Initiative: Retaining Minority Students in Engineering through Improved Outcomes in Mandatory Physics Courses
G. E. Gladding,* P. E. Parker, N. J. Brown, M. A. Selen*
National Science Foundation, NSF 00-94841

A novel instructional approach developed by the Department of Physics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will be teamed with the National Science Foundation's Computer Science, Engineering, and Mathematics Scholarships (CSEMS) program in a combination of classroom teaching and supportive services to retain talented, financially disadvantaged minority students in bachelor's degree CSEMS curricula at Illinois.

Recognizing that many students are underprepared for the introductory calculus-based courses, an optional preparatory course (Physics 100) and elective enrichment tutorial sections have been created for the standard introductory engineering physics courses for students at risk of failure. State-of-the-art educational technologies have been integrated with innovative pedagogy based on physics education research to provide essential skills in mathematics and basic knowledge in traditional physics topics. Preliminary results show that the approach can significantly reduce the failure rate in Physics 111, General Mechanics, the first of the three- or four-course introductory physics sequence required for all Illinois engineering students.

^ Development and Dissemination of Computer-Mediated Instructional Modules
G. E. Gladding,* T. J. Stelzer
Illinois Board of Higher Education, Illinois Century Network Backbone Content Development Grant

This project represents a broad collaborative effort to develop and disseminate model introductory physics course materials, based on recent physics education research, appropriate for Illinois community college and high school advanced placement students. The location-independent, computer-mediated instructional modules are provided for remote, asynchronous access as part of the Illinois Century Network. The project addresses two critical issues for Illinois schools: enrollment in high school physics courses is at a 40-year high, while the number of physics bachelor's degrees continues to decline. Indeed, the physics bachelor's degrees conferred for the class of 1999 is down 20%, compared with the number granted only five years ago.

"Master teachers" from Illinois community colleges and from Illinois high schools offering advanced placement physics courses participate in course material development and receive training during the academic year. A week-long professional development workshop was held at Urbana during the summer of 2001. At the workshop, participating teachers were introduced to courseware developed by Illinois faculty, including the computerized homework and grade book system, as well as original Web-based interactive instructional materials. The participants adapted the curriculum to their own specific needs and placed instructional materials for their classes on the Department of Physics' secure Web-server, which will be accessed remotely by their students over the Illinois Century Network.

^ Development of Interactive Examples for Concept-Based Problem Solving in Physics
G. E. Gladding,* D. J. Kane, M. A. Selen, T. J. Stelzer
National Science Foundation, NSF 00-88734
http://webug.physics.uiuc.edu/courses/ie.html

Traditional introductory physics courses typically fail to significantly improve students' conceptual understanding of, and attitude toward, physics. The primary goal of this work is to create instructional materials that students in introductory physics courses can use to develop problem-solving strategies based on conceptual analysis. A complete set of research-based interactive examples (IEs) are being created that can be used in introductory calculus-based physics courses in undergraduate institutions. These IEs are Web-based exercises that actively engage students in a Socratic dialog designed to help them develop a concept-based strategy to solve a homework problem. The IEs address documented student difficulties and have been shown to improve students' functional understanding of basic physics principles. See http://webug.physics.uiuc.edu/courses/ie.html for examples of IEs.

^ Research Experiences for Undergraduates in Theoretical, Experimental Physics
G. E. Gladding*
National Science Foundation, NSF Grant PHY-99-87906
http://www.physics.uiuc.edu/Education/undergrad/REU/

Since 1993, the Department of Physics has hosted "Research Experiences for Undergraduates" (REU), a summer program to provide students with an engaging introduction to a broad range of forefront research in physics. The program is supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Faculty involved in the REU program endeavor to provide meaningful hands-on research experiences in a first-class environment so that these students develop their own research literacy skills. Twenty-one students (14 from the University of Illinois and 7 from other institutions) and 12 faculty participated in the summer 2000 program. Students worked on an extraordinary range of projects, such as using digital photography techniques to locate optical targets on the surface of the $2.75 million superconducting magnet that will comprise the toroidal spectrometry for the G0 nuclear physics experiment; developing 3-D visualizations of complex astrophysical phenomena drawn from huge experimental datasets; constructing a distortion pedal to emulate the sounds of overdriven tube amplifiers; and employing molecular beam epitaxy to grow thin (<200 é a-axis DBCO) films for electronic and magnetic devices.

In addition to busy research schedules, the students also participated in a number of programmatic and social activities intended to foster a sense of cohesiveness and integration into the REU community. Illinois faculty held weekly seminars to introduce the students to a wide variety of interesting research opportunities in physics. Further information about the REU program is available at http://www.physics.uiuc.edu/Education/undergrad/REU/.


Summary of Engineering Research