** Please note that all program activities are subject to change based on the campus-wide and state-wide response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, as well as other external constraints.

American Sign Language (ASL) Bootcamp

 All students will participate in an intensive multi-week program to learn American Sign Language, allowing hearing students to communicate directly with their deaf and hard-of-hearing peers.  We will provide materials before the summer so you can get up to speed on some signing basics.

**Hands-on Multimessenger Astrophysics at the Observatory

Students will head to the Green Bank Observatory in West Virginia for a weekend of hands-on experience in observing the radio pulsars in NANOGrav’s PTA detector. Working in the operations room, students will take control of the one of the most sensitive radio telescopes in the world, the 100-m Green Bank Telescope. They will observe a selection of ultra-precise radio pulsars, learning not only about the science but also the engineering, data acquisition, and processing in realtime. 

Scientific Coding Training

We will have several workshops for all students focusing on popular programming languages like Python and Mathematica, as well as an introduction to supercomputing on our local cluster, BlueSky.  To cap things off, the entire team will write a Startup proposal for XSede, the national organization that oversees academic supercomputing.  You will be able to keep your account when you return to your home institution and the computing time that goes along with it.

Professional and Academic Training

 Workshops will cover how to develop and write a scientific presentation and how to present your research to various audiences.  The REU program will conclude with presentations by all REU students to RIT's Undergraduate Research Symposium.

Visiting Lecturers

The REU program will host talks by local researchers and those across the country working on different aspects of multimessenger astronomy.  Talks will include an introduction to the LIGO detectors, as well as experts in both observational and theoretical astrophysics.

3-d printing workshop

Students will attend a 2-part workshop in which they will first learn how to create 3D printable files from any set of raw data and then be given access to RIT’s fully equipped 3D printing Maker-space (construct@RIT).

Travel Funds for a National Meeting

Every year, REU students along with a faculty advisor will be chosen to travel to a national meeting to present their research, with a travel allowance to defray the costs for the students.

Social activities

Our REU students will have the chance to meet up with students in all of RIT's other REU programs, as well as a number of other summer researchers on campus.  Activities on campus include potluck dinners, free use of the local gym facilities, and a wide array of social activities.  Regular field trips to explore the Rochester area and the Finger Lakes will also be planned.