The 2022 Physicists Inspiring the Next Generation: Exploring the Nuclear Matter

The “Physicists Inspiring the Next Generation (PING): Exploring the Nuclear Matter” is held annually at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams of Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI. It includes a two-week summer program and year-round research opportunity for high school and middle school students, as well as a year-round research component for undergraduate students on basic and applied nuclear physics topics. Eighteen pre-college participants worked with six undergraduate students in PING 2022 to assemble and perform experiments using the Rutherford scattering experiment kit from Leybold. They compared their data to Geant4 Monte Carlo simulations. In addition, the students tested the performances of 25 cm long scintillators with cross sectional areas of 2.5x2.5 cm² and 5x5 cm² as part of a R&D effort for a next generation neutron detector by the MoNA Collaboration. The pre-college participants represented schools from California, Florida, Michigan, Georgia, Virginia, and New Jersey. The middle and high school students will present results from their research and discuss their experiences in the program.