This award provides funds to the Department of Biology at Emory University to continue a successful Research Experiences for Undergraduates SITE in the broad area of Developmental Processes. Recruitment efforts will focus on students at primarily undergraduate institutions and on women and minority students in order to encourage underrepresented groups to consider careers in science. Each year ten students will be invited to participate based on academic records, evidence of research potential and interest, and recommendations from faculty at their home institution. The program has the following objectives: (1) to provide formal and informal introductions to the processes of science; (2) To provide an intensive research experience in one subdiscipline; (3) To provide perspective by examining alternative approaches to processes of development at different hierarchical levels; and, (4) To maximize participant interaction with other undergraduate and graduate researchers, their specific research mentor, and his/her research group. Students will select a research mentor and project from the following areas: genes and development, cellular differentiation, development of behavior, and developmental processes in ecology and evolution. Students will work under the direct guidance of one of the 22 participating research mentors. All participants will attend workshops on scientific methodology, research design, data analysis and interpretation, and scientific communication skills. Students will design and conduct an independent project in consultation with their mentor. They will participate in weekly progress discussions with other student researchers and the project directors. Each focal area will also have weekly lab meetings to discuss project progress. Students will interact with their research mentor, his/her research group, including graduate students and technicians, and will attend departmental seminars. Each student will present his/her project at a research symposium at Emory; a written report will be "published" in the in-house journal, Undergraduate Research at Emory.
