This REU Site award to the University of Georgia (UGA) located in Athens, GA, and Clark Atlanta University (CAU), in Atlanta, GA, will support the training of 10 students for 10 weeks during the summers of 2014- 2018. This 14-year old program, begun as a partnership between UGA and CAU, focuses on genomics, computational biology, and epigenetics -- and their integration in the new area of systems biology. Participants are expected to do full-time lab research as well as participate in seminars and various workshops, such as the responsible conduct of science, systems biology, molecular genetics research, career opportunities in industry and academia, and the graduate school application process. REU participants have access to a rich array of individual mentor's facilities as well as many interdepartmental laboratories and centers with core facilities for mass spectrometry, microarray analysis, next generation sequencing, nuclear magnetic resonance, etc. Mentors are drawn from a variety of departments including Genetics, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Computer Science, Physics and Astronomy, Plant Biology, and Plant Pathology. The program's recruitment effort is through www.genetics.uga.edu/FGCB and visits to the Atlanta University Center of Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse College, and Spellman College as well as Fort Valley State University. Participants are selected based on academic record, research performance, and potential for outstanding research in genomics, computational biology, and epigenetics by a committee of faculty mentors from UGA and CAU. Student participants are tracked to determine their continued interest in their academic field of study, their career paths, and the lasting influences of the research experience. Success of the program will be assessed by various means, including use of the REU common assessment (SALG URSSA).
This site is designed to increase participation of under-represented groups in graduate study in the biological, physical, and mathematical sciences. It is expected that at least 50 students, many from underrepresented groups and from colleges with limited opportunities for research, will be trained over the 5 years of the program.
Students are required to be tracked after the program and must respond to an automatic email sent via the NSF reporting system. More information is available by visiting www.genetics.uga.edu/FGCB , or by contacting the PI (Dr. Jonathan Arnold at arnold@uga.edu) or the co-PI (Dr. David Logan at dlogan@cau.edu).
