This award from the Division of Chemistry (CHE) and the EPSCoR Program both at the National Science Foundation supports a Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Site in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Utah. The REU program will include joint and parallel activities with other STEM REU programs in the College of Science, which includes programs in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, the Materials Research Science & Engineering Center (MRSEC) and the Center for Science and Math Education (CSME). Synergistic activities will include career development events, tours of scientific facilities, optional training sessions on various modern instrumentation, as well as extracurricular outings. Students will give oral presentations beginning with their arrival on campus, to group meetings throughout the program, and culminating with an oral presentation at a final, celebratory Symposium and Poster Session. Overall, the REU program aims to foster a sense of confidence in discussing and practicing chemistry by: (1) Providing undergraduates with transformative research experiences in innovative chemistry projects under the guidance of faculty members in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Utah, (2) Educating students about their career options and providing them with a positive image of a career in chemistry, (3) Exposing students to the greater scientific community by having our REU researchers interact with other researchers in the College of Science, many of whom will be outside of their immediate field of study.
The Site will offer research internships that will focus on catalysis, the unifying theme of the collaborative REU. The department's strengths span the entire spectrum of catalytic chemistry and these strengths have been consolidated to offer the REU students an interconnected program designed not only to teach them about catalytic chemistry but also to provide them with a needed foundation in the fundamentals of chemistry and chemical research. A career-development workshop as well as optional training workshops that cover modern chemical instrumentation will be offered. Built into the program are opportunities for the students to hone their communication skills, both oral and written, and a comprehensive evaluation model has been created to assess how effective the REU program is at increasing a students' ability to present scientific data.
