This award provides renewed funding for a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program at Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, FL. The program will support ten students during a ten-week summer research program. The goal of Mote Marine Laboratory?s Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Program is to provide research experiences in estuarine science to U.S. college and university undergraduates with special focus on recruiting minority groups underrepresented in science and engineering. Students will be paired with Mote researchers from six research centers and will conduct mentored research projects on one of four major threats to coastal habitats: aquatic pollution, natural toxins, habitat alteration, and coral reef decline. All students enrolled in Mote?s REU Program participate in: 1) laboratory-wide and program-specific orientations; 2) discussion groups on essential career skills in science; 3) research seminars presented by Mote staff and visiting scientists, 3) field trips to other science facilities, and 4) ethics training. All participants will complete a project proposal at the beginning of the program and written and oral reports at the end of their internship.
The Mote Marine Laboratory Research Experience for Undergraduate program provided a unique research experience to 10 undergraduates during the summers of 2010 and 2011. The program was extremely competitive with 300 to 400 applications received each year for the 10 slots. The intellectual focus of the Mote REU Program is on estuarine science, particularly basic and applied research on the biological and chemical features of estuaries. The integrating theme of the program is to address major threats to coastal habitats that were highlighted in reports on the state of the oceans by the Pew Oceans Commission (2003) and the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy (USCOP) (2004). In particular, students conduct independent research projects related to one or more of the following topics: aquatic pollution, natural toxins, habitat alteration and coral reef decline. Each student, under the mentorship of a Mote scientist, plans and conducts his/her own research project. The culminating event is a poster session where the students present their research findings to the Mote scientific staff. In addition to the research projects, a variety of activities are provided to enrich the student experience, both social activities such as boating and kayaking trips to field trips touring State and Federal research agencies to provide other career paths. We have an ethics component to the internship so students leave with a well rounded view of the responsibilities of a research scientist. Students provide feedback throughout the program and at the end of the summer to continue to improve the program and provide the very best possible experience to each class of interns. A follow up survey of these students, conducted in June 2013, reported that 7 are in PhD programs, 4 are in Master’s degree programs, 2 are in MD/PhD programs in the medical field, and all are enrolled/employed in science related positions.
