Cosmic Ray Energetics and Mass was a research project conducted in College Park, Maryland. This research project was headed by NASA. CREAM III, a balloon was built and sent to travel around Antarctica to detect and collect data on cosmic rays for 28 consecutive days. Cosmic rays are charged particles traveling at near light-speed velocities and originate from the sun, other stars and galactic nuclei. The primary purpose of CREAM III was to collect data that will be utilized to determine the means by which cosmic rays are made. Jeremy was supervised by Dr. Eun-Suk Seo and a Cosmic Ray Physics Group. His job was to monitor the activities of CREAM III constantly and use the collected data to produce excel charts. Also Jeremy was in charge of calling NASA in case anything unexpected occured whilst the balloon circulating Antartica. At the end of the 28 days, CREAM III had circumnavigated Antarctica twice and collected about 1.2 million cosmic ray particles. Jeremmy then utilized these meticulous points to creat a trajectory map of the balloon(can be seen on poster).

By completing this research project,Jeremy was given a chance to get first-hand experience on his field of study. This experience hightened his interest in his current majors. Jeremy's research project gave him a head start in his field because he was offered a job, and currently works with Dr. Eun-Suk Seo. Due to Jeremy's great work he was offered a job, and currently works with Dr. Eun-Suk Seo. Jeremy's success exemplifies the importance of internships in an undergraduate students life. It also proves the importance of the practicum project by demostrating the positive effects on the lifes of the students.

Overall, Jeremy truly enjoyed and is appreciative of his opportunity to get a head start in his field. However, he thought that the job was very tedious especially when constructing a trajectury graph from about 1.2 million data points. Another obstacle for Jeremy was his working hours because the times would range from midnight to 8a.m. to 24 hour shifts. Due to his shifts he missed christmas, but that didn't bother him because he was very proud of his acheivements.

Anthing Hsiung shadowed Dr. Banyong Chakshuvej, M.D., an optometrist in College Park, Maryland for her practicum project. Anthing chose to shadow an optometrist because she wears glasses and was interested in different eye diseases. The primary services provided by Dr. Chakshuvej are cosmetic eyelid surgery, treatments for problems and diseases with eyes, and eye exams. Anthing's activities included observing Dr. Chakshuvej's sessions with patients, adjusting the mirror for visual examinations, and assisting in keeping the patient calm and steady for procedures such as botox injections.

By completing her practicum project, Anthing was able observe an optometrist, which is a rare opportunity because the eye is one of the most sensitive parts of a human body. Through her shadowing project, Anthing was able to learn about different eye diseases such as glaucoma, an eye disease that can damage the eye's optic nerve and result in vision loss and blindness. The major symptoms of this disease are unnoticeable so it is important for everyone to get routine eye checkups. The standard checkup of glaucoma includes eye pressure and at time visual field test.

Anthing really appreciated this opportunity that the practicum project has given her. Thanks to the guidence of Dr. Banyong Chaksuvej, she got a rare opportunity as an undergraduate student. Since the eye is such a sensitive part of the human body and a medical degree is necessary to perform practices, Anthing was not able to do any first hand activities.

Evan conducted two research project ideas for his practicum. His supervisor was Todd J. Cooke for both studies. For this study he conducted on the Fibonaci sequence(1,2,3,5,8,13,21,33,54) in species flowering plants, which had petal numbers that followed the Fibonacci sequence. For this Evans activities were to find articls to correlate to his research, collect data on the plant species, perform statistical analysis of data collected, and using this data assemble tables and figures showing the putative values. For the second project, Evan studied th cycad Cycas Revoluta plant and looked at the arrangement of cells around the apical cells, which are cells that plant cells use to divide. Evan's activities during this research was to dissect the cycad plants in order to expose shoot meristems, make molds, and epoxy casts of meristems, use a SEM(Scanning Electron Microsope) to visualize the cycad cellular pattern, and finally analyze the data. The results were that the Chrysanthemum maximum frequency followed that of the fabonacci sequence.

A graphical chart titled the Nmber of Ray Florets on Inflorescences of Chrysanthmum maximum will be published with Dr. Cooke's article in a scientific journal. Evan was also able to get first hand research on a subject that pertains to his major. The practicum helped to reassure Evan that he chose the right major. Evans's success exemplifies the importance of internships in an undergraduate students life. It also proves the importance of the practicum project by demostrating the positive effects on the lifes of the students.

The only obstacle was that doing two studies was very tedious but because Evan truly enjoyed this opportunity this was not a big obstacle for him. He really appreciated the opportunity given to him by Dr. Todd J. Cooke.