Fascinating ideas in such areas as relativity and quantum theory attract many students.  Other students love to work with experimental equipment, such as lasers, superconducting devices, particle detectors, scanning tunneling microscopes, etc.  To give an idea of the possibilities available to students, we have collected a few of the research projects in which undergraduates have worked.

• Peter Calabrese and Jeff Heinz, physics majors

Project Description - Milagro: Collaborated with Professor Jordan Goodman on the construction of the Milagro gamma ray detector at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.  Also worked on the software used in analyzing the observations of these rays, as well as on data analysis. 
Supported by:  National Science Foundation 
Presently:  Mr. Calabrese is a graduate student at Cornell University.  Mr. Heinz has joined the Peace Corps. 
 
• Andrea Dvoredsky, physics major

Project Description:  Worked at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) in Zurich, Switzerland, under the direction of Professor Phil Roos on a nuclear physics experiment that involved the scattering of 600 MeV pions on polarized Li nuclei.  She used the meson beam at the PSI accelerator and helped analyze the data when she returned to Maryland. 
Supported by:  National Science Foundation 
Presently:  A graduate student in physics at the California Institute of Technology. 
 
• Aaron Eichelberger and Luke Sollitt, physics majors

Project Description - Super-Kamiokande:  Assisted Professor Jordan Goodman in the Super-Kamiokande neutrino observatory near Toyama in the Japan Alps.  Worked in shifts with other U.S. and Japanese scientists.  (Solar neutrinos provide a cornucopia of data about the sun and about the nature of the neutrino.) 
Supported by:  National Science Foundation 
Presently:  Both are graduate students in physics at the California Institute of Technology. 

• William Lynch, physics major

Project Description:  Is working with Professor Tom Cohen on the nucleon-nucleon force problem. 
Supported by:  A UM program sponsoring undergraduate research. 

• Elizabeth Wood, physics and biology major

Project Description:  Assisted Professor T. (Venky) Venkatesan with the building of an experiment to measure electrical noise from thin films. 
Supported by:  National Science Foundation 
Presently:  A graduate student in anthropology and archaeology at George Washington University, where she is applying the experimental techniques learned in Professor Venkatesan's laboratory. 

• Kevin Scaldeferri, physics major

Project Description:  Worked with Professor Tom Cohen on quantum mechanical calculations related to nucleon-nucleon forces 
Supported by:  U.S. Department of Energy 
Presently:  A graduate students at the California Institute of Technology. 

• Matt Vanderhoek, physics major

Project Description:  Working at the University of California, San Diego, he investigated the magnetic, superconducting and resistivity properties of a heavy Fermion compound. 
Presently:  Mr. Vanderhoek is now carrying out research at Lucent Technologies in New Jersey. 

• Jennifer Schwartz, physics major

Project Description:  Worked with Professor Tom Cohen on a quantum mechanical analog of the nuclear physics process "color transparency." 
Supported by:  U.S. Department of Energy 
Presently:  A graduate student at Harvard.