An award has been made to South Dakota State University that will provide research training for 10 weeks for 10 students, during the summers 2010-2012. The interdisciplinary REU site will allow undergraduate students in chemistry, biology, and engineering to learn research skills and to participate in unique research experiences related to biofuels and bioenergy. Bioenergy is not only an emergent area in science and engineering with profound implications for the U.S. economy, but it is also an excellent training ground in multidisciplinary research. The program is structured around three focal areas: feedstock development and production, bioprocessing, and environmental sustainability. The students will actively get involved in projects representing the whole spectrum of state of the art bioenergy research from feedstock genomics, to new technologies in bioprocessing and the conversion of bioenergy crops into biofuels, to ecological and environmental sustainability of agricultural crop production. The students will work together with faculty mentors from 5 different departments (Biology and Microbiology, Agricultural Engineering, Plant Science, Chemistry, and Wildlife) with active research programs on bioenergy. To strengthen the learning experience, the students will host high school students for a 2 day program, and will involve them in their research activities. Field trips to industry partners will allow students to learn about potential careers in the bioenergy industry. An ethics component that addresses scientific ethics and misconduct, and workshops about scientific writing, women in the sciences, and environmental justice will round off the program for the students. The program encourages nationwide applications from students from diverse backgrounds. Students will be selected according to their transcripts and research interests. Participants will be required to write a final report as well as present their findings at a campus-wide bioenergy symposium at the end of the 10 weeks. Formative and summative evaluations, including a common web-based tool used by the BIO REU program, will be used to determine the student´s expectations at the start of the program, and their experiences after the program. For questions about the program, and the application, please contact Heike Bücking (heike.bucking@sdstate.edu) or José L. Gonzalez (jose.gonzalez@sdstate.edu) or visit the web page at: http://biomicro.sdstate.edu/reu_bioenergy/.
Developing sustainable, renewable, environmentally-friendly, and economical sources of energy is a daunting challenge for current and future generations. To provide future generations with innovative and environmentally sustainable solutions for renewable bioenergy will require the training of next generation scientists and engineers to think beyond their disciplinary bounds. The interdisciplinary REU site at South Dakota State University allowed thirty undergraduate students in biology, chemistry, biochemistry, and engineering to learn research skills and to participate in unique research experiences related to different aspects of bioenergy research. The students were primarily recruited from universities with large undergraduate enrollment but only low research training opportunities. Ten students each summer were trained in state-of-the art technologies and learned to work in a multidisciplinary research environment. Faculty mentors from 7 different departments (biology and microbiology, agricultural and biosystems engineering, natural resource management, plant science, chemistry, and economics) worked collaboratively with their students on research projects related to different aspects of the bioenergy production pathway. The students for example contributed to the development of new bioenergy feedstocks by metabolic engineering of cyanobacteria or feedstock genomics, examined new technologies in bioprocessing (e.g. thermochemical decomposition of biomass, and bioreactor chemistry) or studied the potential application of beneficial plant microbe interactions as biofertilizer in bioenergy crop production. The broad experience of the involved faculty and the interdisciplinary approach of this REU Site provided undergraduate and actively recruited minority students with a unique research experience. The students shared their experiences also with high school students, and served as mentors for the Upward Bound Program. After 10 weeks, the students presented their results as poster at the Bioenergy Research Day and discussed their findings with other faculty members, invited speakers, and other graduate and undergraduate students. Additional workshops in which responsible conduct of research and scientific ethics, environmental justice, scientific writing and data analysis, and women in science issues were discussed, rounded off the program for the students. The assessment after the program showed that all students gained through these activities in their ability to think and to work like a scientist, and in confidence in their abilitiy to actively contribute to scientific progress and to discuss scientific concepts with others. Graduated students of the program have been admitted for example into graduate programs at Vanderbilt University, Michigan State University, University of Houston, or University of Connecticut.
