Our REU students met up with two other REU programs at ODU this summer to go to the Jefferson National Lab (J-Lab) in nearby Hampton. There are 17 total National labs and we possess a unique facility here in Hampton Roads, one of only two accelerators in the country. This is a really cool opportunity for the REU students to see how nuclear physics is done, the J lab research focuses on the inner parts of an atom and nature of matter. What makes this possible to study here is the particle accelerator. The accelerator works by producing a stream of charged electrons so that they can probe the nucleus of the atom and study components of a proton like a quark and mesons. The students got to walk around a few of the 4 major experiment halls and the computer lab. They got to see what kinds of equipment they use to conduct these experiments and see where they manufacture the equipment. Additionally, they saw how challenging it is to keep everything clean and running properly. Our students also got to see what It is like planning out an experiment to get to make its way here. From proposal to the actual conduction of the experiment takes about 5-10 years and hundreds of people. A very large team for studying the smallest particles that exist!