This REU Site award to the Boyce Thompson Institute at Cornell University, located in Ithaca, NY, will support the training of 14 students for 10 weeks during the summers of 2019- 2022. Undergraduate students with an interest in hands-on, plant-focused laboratory research are encouraged to apply. Typical student projects will involve genome-enabled plant molecular biology research, including gene cloning and characterization, functional genomics, expression of exogenous genes in plants, and analysis of biochemical pathways. The research experience will be enhanced by scientific ethics training, faculty research lectures, and discussion of graduate school and career options. Students will develop scientific communication skills by writing and reviewing research proposals, presenting their results as talks in a symposium, and participating in workshops. Undergraduates can submit applications (biographical information, transcript, statement of purpose, and two reference letters) via the program website, www.btiscienc.org/internships. A committee of faculty mentors will review the applications, and students will be notified of their application status in early March.
It is anticipated that a total of 56 students, primarily from schools with limited research opportunities, will be trained during 4 years of the program. By participating in this REU Site, undergraduate students will receive training in advanced plant biology research methods. Many program participants will present their research results in the form of posters or talks at scientific conferences. The overall research experience will prepare students for graduate school in the plant sciences and future research careers in academia, industry, or government service.
A common web-based assessment tool used by all REU Site programs funded by the Division of Biological Infrastructure, as well as on-site interviews with participating students, will be used to determine the effectiveness of the training program. After completion of the program, the Boyce Thompson Institute will track the future education and career paths of all participating students. Additionally, students will be asked to respond to an automatic email sent via the NSF reporting system. More information is available by visiting www.btiscienc.org/internships, or by contacting the program coordinator (Delanie Sickler, pgrp-ourtreach@cornell.edu, 607-252-6566), the PI (Georg Jander, gj32@cornell.edu), or the Co-PI (Margaret Frank, mhf47@cornell.edu). This award is supported by the Divisions of Biological Infrastructure (DBI) and Integrative Organismal System (IOS) Plant Genome Research Program in the Directorate for Biological Sciences.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
