Cosmic Ray Physics at Hartnell College: Successful Undergraduate Research at a Two-Year College

In an ongoing project which began in the summer of 2011, I worked with a fellow college student and a professor to successfully construct two complementary cosmic ray experiments.  The first utilized NIM electronic modules.  The second utilized a circuit board designed by the Berkeley Lab Cosmic Ray Telescope Project (http://cosmic.lbl.gov/). In this talk I’ll present data from both experimental configurations.  I will show the dependence of the cosmic ray flux on the separation between scintillator paddles and polar angle.  In addition, I will include a discussion of ongoing improvements to the LBL lab board and prospects for curriculum development using the cosmic ray experiments.