Summer Research Experiences – Project Submissions

Dear Faculty,

Thank you for volunteering to host a visiting undergraduate student researcher (REU) or local science teacher (RET) this summer!  Undergraduates will spend ten weeks (Jun 3-Aug 9) and teachers will spend six weeks (July 1-Aug 9) immersed in research on projects defined by mentors.

Summer research projects must:

• Have well-defined goals. Projects must be well constructed, with clearly stated research goals and learning goals for the participants. Some examples of successful projects are to build a piece of equipment, or test a hypothesis, or use a piece of equipment in a new way. Projects should be owned by the researcher although they may work closely with graduate student or postdoc mentors.
• Be achievable in the summer. Projects must be short with appropriate timelines and milestones for the summer (10 weeks for REU, 6 weeks for RET).
• Be appropriate in scope and for participant knowledge. Projects should be developed with the limited skills and backgrounds of the participants in mind. REU participants range from current freshman to juniors in college and community college students. RET participants typically have basic background in science or technology from their undergraduate or graduate degree in education. Some participants will have no research experience.
• Have the potential for co-authorship of posters and publications. Projects should have the potential for the participant to co-author a publication based upon their research contributions and/or the potential to present at a conference or society meeting.

Please complete the following project submission form with your project ideas. We will work with you to refine them, so don’t worry if they are rough at this stage. A copy of your project will be emailed to you when you submit, for your records and for sharing with graduate student and postdoc mentors.

Thank you!
Xin Zhang
Thomas Bifano