Undergraduates

During the academic year, individual JILA scientists may opt to participate in CU’s campus-wide Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program, or UROP. Through UROP, individual faculty members can invite one or more talented and motivated undergraduate CU science majors to participate in their research laboratory for one or more semesters. The students not only get involved in ground-breaking research, but they also get paid for participating in the program!

During the summer, the National Science Foundation sponsors a Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program at JILA and the Department of Physics at the University of Colorado. REU participants are selected from applicants from colleges and universities throughout the country to participate in JILA’s cutting-edge research. Each student is placed in a separate research group composed of a faculty member, postdocs, and graduate students. Students may join group projects or be given their own task to pursue. The goal of the REU program is to give science majors experience in a working research laboratory.

JILA research areas available to undergraduates participating in either the REU or UROP programs include

• Astrophysics
• Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics
• Biophysics
• Chemical Physics
• Nanoscience
• Optical Physics
• Precision Measurement