This award will establish a National Science Foundation "Research Experiences for Undergraduate" site in southeast Wisconsin for two years. Eight highly qualified undergraduates will be recruited this summer to conduct research at one of two locations comprising the site: the Biomedical Research Institute laboratories on the campus of the University of Wisconsin- Parkside in Kenosha or the laboratories of the departments of biochemistry and microbiology at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. Based upon extensive experiences with undergraduate research together with active research programs, 12 faculty representing the focus of Molecular and Regulatory Biology will serve as potential project supervisors. This program is designed to develop each participant's intellectual confidence, technical competence and research independence via: 1. Guidance by active researchers in the areas of Molecular and Regulatory Biology. 2. A program of specific goals for each student's research progress via a meeting and seminar schedule plus instruction in literature search and seminar presentation techniques complementary to each project. 3. Amplification of the NSF effort through a commitment to carry over meritorious students for a second summer of research using internal funding. 4. Aggressive regional recruitment of superior candidates with special efforts to attract minorities and women plus housing arrangements proximate to the UW-P laboratories and, 5. Immediate and long-term evaluation of the NSF-REU experience.
