This award provides funds to continue an REU Site at the University of Minnesota Center for Research in Learning, Perception, and Cognition. Ten students each year, over a three year period, will be selected for eight week sessions in the summer to work with cognitive science faculty affiliated with the Center. The majority of the students will be selected from small liberal arts colleges in the upper midwest with limited research opportunities. Students will: (1) work as full members of their faculty mentor's research team; (2) complete a research project including a written report and oral presentation to peers and faculty; (3) participate in a multidisciplinary research training seminar for credit; and (4) participate in a special non-credit 'Master Student' course. Seminar activities will include presentations by program faculty and faculty in related areas campus-wide, laboratory tours, and lectures on research tools, design, and ethics. The fully integrated program will include opportunities for the students to learn specific research methods, to apply these methods in the context of their own research, and to examine broad conceptual and methodological issues relating to the cognitive sciences. This award contributes to the Foundation's continuing efforts to attract talented students into careers in science through active undergraduate research experiences.
