"This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5)."
This 3-year REU site program at Rutgers University will engage 10 undergraduate students each year in cutting-edge, cross-disciplinary research in the field of Cellular Bioengineering. Cellular Bioengineering encompasses a number of cutting edge research fields and articulates with nanotechnology, advanced materials, systems biology and stem cells. The research focus on Cellular Bioengineering From Biomaterials to Stem Cells will integrate these areas towards the establishment of a strong engineering base for the development of cell-based devices and therapeutics. An emphasis on stem cells is a relatively unique opportunity for an REU site.
The REU program will continue and expand upon an existing seed program called ISURF (Integrated Summer Undergraduate Research Frontiers). Students will receive training in fundamental laboratory techniques in a Cellular Bioengineering Boot Camp, will meet weekly for community building and exercises designed to develop their research communication skills, and will present their research results to their peers, faculty and visitors at a Summer Symposium. Another unique feature of this program is the Buddy System which will be employed to provide REU participants with near-peer mentors outside of their own laboratories, and participants across various years of the program will be linked via an E-Pals system and via an online blog and community called The Human Cell.
Recruitment efforts will be targeted to students from underrepresented groups and those from colleges without substantial graduate research and training. This REU program will train undergraduate students from diverse backgrounds in Cellular Bioengineering and motivate them to pursue graduate studies which will lead to a better trained workforce in this rapidly expanding field.
