This award from the Division of Chemistry at the National Science Foundation supports a Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Site led by Professors Carla Mattos and Patricia A Mabrouk, both at Northeastern University. The REU site in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology (CCB) at Northeastern University will be centered on the theme of catalysis and will include perspectives from both chemical and biological systems. Nine undergraduate students will participate in the program each year, with priority given to those from institutions that do not have graduate programs and that graduate large numbers of students from underrepresented groups in the sciences. Each student will join a research group in CCB and will be paired with a Northeastern undergraduate and a graduate student in the group, where he/she will perform experiments that will involve some aspect of catalysis in research. The theme on catalysis will be introduced at the opening day and reinforced through weekly faculty seminars and a final presentation by the students. During the summer each student will write a statement of mutual expectation with the mentor, put together an electronic portfolio and prepare a poster to be presented at a national conference during the following year. Over the three years of the project, a total of 27 students will have the opportunity to do summer research full time at Northeastern with a diverse group of research-active faculty highly experienced in mentoring undergraduates. The mentoring relationships will be maintained with each student throughout the remainder of their undergraduate years.
