Michaela Kleinert, Ph.D. - US grants

Even the cold of outer space is hot in comparison to ultracold atoms and molecules. By using a combination of red-detuned, circularly polarized laser light and magnetic fields - the magneto-optical trap (MOT) - room-temperature atoms can be cooled to just above absolute zero (~100 microK) and trapped in a volume a few millimeter in diameter. These ultracold gases allow precision studies of atomic energy levels, leading to deeper insight into quantum mechanics, the theory that describes the world of the very small.

In Dr. Kleinert's lab at Willamette University, ultracold gases of rubidium and calcium are trapped together and combined to form molecular dimers, RbCa, a molecule that has never before been formed or studied. These novel molecules are attractive systems to study due to their non-vanishing electric and magnetic dipole moments. By carefully tailoring the internal quantum state of the molecules and utilizing the permanent dipole moments through interactions with external electric and magnetic fields, these molecules find applications in quantum information processing, studies of fundamental symmetries and high-precision spectroscopy.

The project is used to train undergraduates considering careers in research, to enrich the research environment of the physics department and Willamette University as a whole, and to further enhance integration of teaching and research on campus. Specifically, Kleinert is including undergraduate researchers in all aspects of her project, from initial experimental assembly, testing, data collection, and analysis to dissemination through publications and conference presentations. This exposure to all aspects of a state-of-the art research project together with close faculty mentoring and peer-teaching prepares students well and inspires them to continue higher education.

In addition to work on campus, Kleinert also actively participates in outreach programs to foster scientific curiosity in young children and interested adults alike. The NSF award allows her to include students from under-represented groups in her research project through collaboration with the Pacific Northwest Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation, and to invite experts to campus to give research talks and to act as mentors and role models.

This award supports Optics and Photonics Training for Inquisitive eXperimentalists (OPTIX), a project to create an innovative, hands-on laboratory environment at Willamette University where undergraduate sophomores and juniors can work with research grade optics equipment in a dedicated space designed to foster deep, inquiry-based learning. Students will complete carefully designed modules that encourage creativity and independence, preparing them better for a more rigorous and meaningful senior year capstone project and giving them vital skills and motivation for a career in the STEM fields after graduation. Modules will also be developed for local community college students at Chemeketa Community College, and an optics related hands-on exhibition for the Gilbert House Children's Museum in Salem, OR.

The optics modules will require different levels of student sophistication, training, and involvement. The most basic optics module will provide an introduction to optics, and serve as a gateway to the more advanced activities. Students at the sophomore level then continue taking three additional basic modules that introduce them to more sophisticated ideas and techniques. The focus at the junior level is on intermediate modules, some of which are extensions of modules encountered during the sophomore year and others which lead into the advanced modules that students can take in their senior year or as independent research projects to prepare them for the transition into research labs. The effectiveness of this initiative will be ascertained by assessing student skills and attitudes before, during, and after exposure to OPTIX modules with the help of an external evaluator.

This project will contribute to the national need for well-educated scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and technicians by supporting the retention and graduation of high-achieving, low-income students with demonstrated financial need at Willamette University, a private liberal arts university in Oregon. Over its six-year duration, this project will fund scholarships to 72 unique full-time students (three cohorts of 24 students) who are pursuing bachelor’s degrees in biology, chemistry, computer science, data science, environmental science, exercise/health science, mathematics, or physics. First-year students will receive a 4-year scholarship. Scholarship recipients will share significant academic and co-curricular support activities, including residential and social cohort structures, near-peer mentorship, campus leadership positions, on- and off-campus research experiences, as well as targeted exposure to STEM post-graduate opportunities and preparation for navigating the job market provided in collaboration with Willamette's Office of Career Development. This project will gather data to inform the development of support systems and advance understanding of best practices to better serve an increasingly diverse population of STEM students. Institutionalization of these practices will be emphasized to ensure that benefits of the project persist in the long term. More broadly and importantly, its findings will enable other institutions to develop and successfully implement support structures for low-income students in STEM.<br/><br/>This project will continue the work of Willamette University's earlier Track 1 S-STEM project (NSF award # DUE-1742159) and will focus on four key objectives. First is continuing to increase recruitment of STEM students with high financial need and reducing the financial burden of achieving a degree. Second is continuing to maintain or increase retention and graduation rates for low-income STEM students above Willamette's current S-STEM Scholars & Fellows 90% retention rate, and helping to improve Willamette’s four-, five-, and six-year overall graduation rates. Third is strengthening mentoring in STEM departments and with campus partners such as Willamette's Office of Career Development to ensure participants graduate with a personalized plan to guide their post-baccalaureate pursuits, and encouraging development of leadership skills through participation in campus activities. Fourth, and finally, is to continue improving Willamette’s institutional understanding of low-income STEM students’ strengths and needs, and establishing which evidence-based practices and strategies best support these, so that they can become institutionalized and ensure the long term impact of the project. The project will gather qualitative attitudinal data through focus groups and one-on-one interviews, as well as quantitative data through regular surveys typically once every semester). Outcomes of S-STEM scholarship recipients will be compared to their non-S-STEM peers, and results will be disseminated in peer reviewed journals and at relevant disciplinary conferences. This project is funded by NSF’s Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics program, which seeks to increase the number of low-income academically talented students with demonstrated financial need who earn degrees in STEM fields. It also aims to improve the education of future STEM workers, and to generate knowledge about academic success, retention, transfer, graduation, and academic/career pathways of low-income students.<br/><br/>This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.