This award by the Chemistry Division supports a Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) site at North Carolina State University for the summers of 2009-2011. The program director is Elon Ison who is assisted by co-PI Reza Ghiladi. Eight students each year, recruited from outside institutions which themselves lack significant research facilities, will be selected for this ten week program in chemical research. The primary focus will be to expose undergraduate students to, and educate them in, one of many possible independent research topics in the fields of materials science, life science, and catalysis. By taking advantage of the geographic location of North Carolina State University (NCSU), this REU program will: 1) engage in a series of effective strategies for recruiting students from underrepresented groups, in particular those from historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the southeast region and from the University of Puerto Rico system; 2) provide students with additional exposure to career opportunities in non-academic settings in the Research Triangle Park (RTP) area; 3) actively enroll students in the social and professional activities provided on campus and to encourage student interactions with other undergraduate REU programs at NCSU. Special efforts will be made to assist students in making professional and academic decisions by broadening their perspectives on chemical research careers and by providing research opportunities for students of all backgrounds with demonstrated academic excellence.This site is co-funded by the Department of Defense in partnership with the NSF REU program.
Demographics During the past three funding periods (2001-2003, 2006-2008, 2009-2011) the department has hosted 103 REU students. Female participants have comprised 58% of these REU students, 87% of the external participants (i.e., not from NCSU) have been from undergraduate institutions that lack graduate programs, and 39% have been from underrepresented groups (note: female participants are not counted as underrepresented). Institutional Support During the most recent funding period, NSF contributed $214,920 while NCSU and NCSU Chemistry Department provided a total of $30,000 to the program. Assessment The assessment of the impact that the previous two summer programs had on the future careers of the REU students consisted of questionnaires completed before and after the program. The results from these evaluations indicated that our REU program had a positive impact on students' ability to evaluate their career and academic choices. For the six award period 2009-2011, the students indicated that the REU program increased the likelihood that they would attend graduate school as well as choose a career in science, and in all cases the participants indicated the value of the program by stating that they would recommend the program to a friend. In addition, all of the students in the 2011 program indicated that they planned to pursue a doctoral degree in a science-related field after graduation. Former REU students are now attending graduate school in chemistry at the University of Texas, University of Michigan, Duke University, Washington University, Penn State University, NCSU, University of Florida, Georgia Tech, Michigan State, Northwestern University, UNC Chapel-Hill, and the University of Wisconsin – Madison. We also received several positive testimonials about our program from previous participants. These responses illustrate the impact that the NCSU Dept. of Chemistry NSF-REU had on their future career plans. A few select excerpts from these testimonials are included below. "I was able to interface with professors and graduate students who taught me a lot about what to look for in a graduate program, what to expect for my first year, and other important nuances that I couldn’t learn from my college directly." "Before this REU, I had been entertaining the thought of possibly getting a job upon graduation, but the experience was so rewarding that afterwards, I knew I wanted to enter a graduate program." "This REU experience allowed me to really see how graduate level research is conducted." Publications and Confenrence Proceedings For the funding period (2009-2011), six REU participants received financial support from the NCSU Department of Chemistry to travel and give presentations at regional and national meetings of the American Chemical Society (REU ’11 students will be registering soon for the Spring ’12 ACS meeting). Furthermore, seven REU participants have been co-authors on a total of six publications.
