A Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Sites award has been made to the University of Connecticut to provide research training for 10 weeks for 10 students during the summers of 2013-1015. The Department of Physiology and Neurobiology (PNB) will offer research opportunities to undergraduate sophomores and juniors from non-Ph.D. granting institutions. The students will participate in graduate level research projects on physiological and neural systems in animals. The goal is to expose students to a career in scientific research, and to increase student applications to graduate programs in basic science. Students are selected on the basis of their academic record, personal and professional goals described in a required essay, and letters of recommendation. Interested students, especially underrepresented minorities, veterans, first-generation college students, and students with disabilities from institutions with limited research opportunities are encouraged to apply. REU students will be part of a campus multidisciplinary REU community consisting of several programs in the physical sciences and engineering as well as physiology and neurobiology. Students are housed together, and work with faculty mentors on their own research project. Professional development and cohort-building activities are planned. Seminars introduce students to topics such as safe practices in the laboratories, ethical issues in science, how to apply to graduate school, and how to present research results effectively. An end-of-session symposium features student platform and poster presentations. Information about the program will be assessed by various means, including the common assessment tool available to BIO-funded REU PIs. More information is available by visiting www.pnb.uconn.edu/PNB_Base/reu/index.html, or by contacting the PI (Dr. Xinnian Chen at xinnian.chen@uconn.edu) or the co-PI (Dr. Larry Renfro at larry.renfro@uconn.edu)
