Undergraduate Research: A National Overview for Physics

The opportunity for physics majors to participate in meaningful research is now an important part of many departments' undergraduate curriculum and has been credited with helping to revitalizing many programs. I will briefly discuses some of what is known about the participation of physics majors in undergraduate research. How many students participate in an experience research? Who does and who does not participate in one? What impact does the experience have on the students? How would they rate their experience? The data to be presented comes from a nationwide survey of physics seniors conducted by the Statistical Research Center of the American Institute of Physics.