For most teenagers, summer vacation and particle physics don't exactly go together.

But the four high school students spending the summer at Florida International University aren't exactly most teenagers.

They're working alongside nuclear physicists to build a cosmic ray detector.

``It was a little overwhelming at first,'' said Alyssa Indart, 17, a rising senior at Miami Lakes Educational Center. ``But we learned not to be intimidated by anything -- not even particle physics.''

The teens, participating in a six-week paid internship with FIU's physics department, were selected from a pool of top-performing student applicants, professor David Jones said.

``We chose the best of the best,'' Jones said. ``These kids have a real aptitude for the sciences.''

The program is just one of many FIU has launched in recent years to grow South Florida's physics community.

The teens spent the first few weeks of their internship learning how to use a cosmic ray detector, a device used to detect muons -- subatomic particles that originate in outer space.

``When we first started, we didn't know anything about cosmic rays or muons,'' recalled Dennis Prieto, 17, who attends Miami Coral Park Senior High. ``We just had to go with the flow.''

They caught on quickly, with the help of FIU professors, learning how to set up the equipment and measure the number of muons that hit the detector each second. The students charted and analyzed their data, too.

NOT FOR SLACKERS

The summer wasn't easy. The students were expected to learn something new each day. Their experiments didn't always work.

``We had to be flexible sometimes,'' said Zhirong Gong, 17, a rising senior at Western High in Davie. ``There was a lot of troubleshooting.''

For the most part the teens found success building their own cosmic ray detector. The device isn't finished yet, but will be on display at FIU in the fall.

The product of their hard work looks like something out of a science-fiction movie.

``It's pretty cool to be able to build something like this,'' Dennis said. ``My friends are pretty amazed. They want to learn about it.''

$2,000 STIPEND

The icing on the cake: Each student will earn about $2,000 for the summer.

Their stipends are being funded by Quarknet, a national program to encourage student interest in physics.

``We're getting great experience -- and earning good money,'' said Alyssa, smiling.

Jones, the FIU professor, agreed.

``You could go for four years in college and not get to do this,'' he said. ``It's real science in a lab setting.''

In addition to the internship program, the physics department offers workshops for high school physics teachers. It also has a program that encourages physics majors to consider teaching careers.

``We want to push the envelope,'' said Professor Laird Kramer, who has been leading efforts to reform physics education. ``We want to empower students to become scientists and educators.''

For some of the summer interns, the program confirmed their interest in the field.

For others, it was a new beginning.

FOCUS ON PHYSICS

``I didn't really know what I wanted to do before this,'' said Kali Benavides, 16, a rising junior at Miami Killian Senior High.

``But now I feel like I'm definitely going to study physics.''

Said Jones: ``They're really excited about the possibilities. You can see it in their eyes.''

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