NSF's chemistry division and Office of International Science and Engineering jointly co-fund the University of California-Santa Cruz Research Experiences for Undergraduates in Organic Chemistry site in Bangkok, Thailand for the summers of 2005-2008. The program director is Rebecca Braslau, UCSC, who is assisted by Poonsakdi Ploypradith of Chulabhorn Research Institute, Bangkok, Thailand. This international ten week program is designed to give eight outstanding students from the United States an intensive, hands-on research experience in organic chemistry in Bangkok, Thailand in laboratories at Chulalongkorn University, at Mahidol University, and at the Chulabhorn Research Institute. Each American undergraduate will be paired with a Thai graduate student. The American REU students will be housed together at Chulalongkorn University. The International Affairs Office at Chulalongkorn University will offer the students an initial Thai culture, history and language course, which will be supplemented throughout the summer by cultural enrichment outings to important religious and historical locations. The program includes multiple research meetings throughout the summer, followed by a final Research Colloquium for both American and Thai student participants. In addition, the REU students will submit written research reports to complete their formal research experience. Student participants will be recruited from across the U.S. by posters and by web, partially in tandem with the existing REU program at U. C. Santa Cruz. Candidates will be evaluated on academic excellence in chemistry and an interest in experiencing a foreign culture, while striving to achieve a broad representation of minorities, women and students with disabilities.
