An award was made to the University of Notre Dame, Department of Biological Sciences, to provide research training for 10 weeks for 12 students during the summers of 2010-2012. The program, "Integrative Cell and Molecular Biology", will provide students with independent research projects within an interdisciplinary research community. Participants will formulate their research project and proposal with their mentor, speak about their work at the beginning of the summer and present their results at the end of the summer at the Regional Summer Symposium. A weekly seminar program will be included to develop students' intellectual and professional skills, as well as to educate them about various career paths in biological sciences. In addition, students will attend interactive workshops on integrative research, ethics and the responsible conduct of research, the publication process, scientific writing, and graduate school applications. The underlying aim of the program is to give students strong incentives for pursuing careers in research. Students will be recruited through general and targeted approaches with partner institutions. Underrepresented minority students and students who do not have access to research at their home institutions will be encouraged to apply. Participant tracking data will be obtained using a background, pre-program, post-program, and alumni survey each year. In addition, the BIO REU common assessment tool will be used. For more information, students may visit http://nd.edu/~biosreu/ or contact the PI, Dr Michelle A Whaley, at (574) 631-9343 or Michelle.A.Whaley.3@nd.edu.
Our NSF-REU program at the University of Notre Dame Department of Biological Sciences provided summer research training for 12 college students from across the country every summer from 2010-2012. The program, "Integrative Cell and Molecular Biology", has provided these students the opportunity to engage in independent yet mentored research projects within an interdisciplinary research community. Intellectual Merit: Participants actively formulated their research project and proposal with their mentor, spoke about their work at the beginning of the summer, and presented their results at the end of the summer at a regional summer symposium. Students also participated in a weekly seminar program that developed their intellectual and professional skills, as well as educated them about various career paths in the biological sciences. In addition, students attended interactive workshops on integrative research, ethics and responsible conduct of research, the publication process, scientific writing, and graduate school applications. The program is designed to allow students to develop their critical thinking and analytical skills as they learn to conduct real scientific investigation under their mentor’s guidance. Broader Impact: The underlying aim of the program is to give students strong incentives to pursue careers in biological research. According to a post-program survey, over 90% of our students are very interested in pursuing scientific research in their future endeavors. Approximately 50% of our students were underrepresented minority students and approximately 56% of our students did not have research opportunities available at their home institutions. We believe it is important to provide avenues for these students to pursue their passion for scientific discovery. Our REU students also had a significant impact on our South Bend community as they gave biology workshops for local youth, inspiring them to engage in scientific exploration as well.
