A multi-institution collaborative approach to a productive undergraduate research program in material science
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A multi-institution collaborative approach to a productive undergraduate research program in material science A.J. Silversmith1, D.M. Boye2, and K.R. Hoffman3 1
Department of Physics, Hamilton College, Clinton, NY 13323, USA
2
Department of Physics, Davidson College, Davidson, NC 28035, USA
3
Department of Physics, Whitman College, Walla Walla, WA 99362, USA
ABSTRACT We describe our approach to a student-centered interdisciplinary research program in material science. Our work in the synthesis and optical characterization of sol-gel materials provides an ideal research setting for undergraduates interested in physics and chemistry. Students fabricate all samples and perform laser spectroscopic measurements. The work is accessible to undergraduates but also of current interest to a wide community of scientists interested in new rare earth based optical materials. Students make meaningful contributions to publishable work, and many go on to do graduate work in physics or chemistry. Two recent students have been recognized with national awards for their research, and many have presented work at international meetings. INTRODUCTION We started our careers by developing individual research programs at three different undergraduate institutions: attracting external funding, building laboratories, and publishing with student co-authors. However, since tenure we have found enormous advantages for ourselves and for our students from working collaboratively. For over a decade Drs. Boye and Silversmith have worked together on a materials research program - synthesis and spectroscopy of rare earthbased sol-gel glasses. More recently Dr. Hoffman joined the collaboration. Our students have learned valuable lab techniques and have applied their knowledge of chemistry, physics, and numerical analysis to a productive interdisciplinary research program. We chose an area of research with undergraduate students in mind. At liberal arts colleges, undergraduates are essentially our graduate students. They perform the experimental work and analysis, guided by their research advisors. They write theses and present work at conferences. After tenure, Dr. Boye and Silversmith were in search of a joint project, and first heard about solgel work at an international meeting in the late 90’s. It seemed to be an area of research that could work in an undergraduate setting. We visited a lab at University of Wisconsin to learn the synthesis techniques, then spent several years mastering general lab techniques and reproducing earlier work until we identified a niche for ourselves: an area of investigation where our backgrounds in rare-earth spectroscopy could make a unique contribution. In the last decade we
have published 11 papers and made 20 conference presentations - all with student coauthors - on this topic. We have collaborated on all aspects of the research, from planning experiments to writing publications and grant reports. Our laboratories and research backgrounds complement each other so that, combining our resources, we have pursu
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