This award provides funds to the Department of Biology at Princeton University to establish a Research Experiences for Undergraduates Site. An information package describing Princeton's summer REU program will be sent to over 350 colleges and universities across the United States. Special efforts will be directed toward recruitment of minority students. A faculty committee will select participants (mostly about to enter their senior year) by competitive criteria (academic record; letters of recommendation; statement of purpose). To demonstrate its commitment to the summer undergraduate research program, Princeton University has agreed to match funds to support up to three additional minority student: e.g., for every minority student selected to participate in the program, Princeton will donate monies to support a second minority student. The REU program is modelled after the research-oriented component of Princeton University's undergraduate curriculum in Biology. Participants from other schools will visit in the spring, to meet with several faculty members of their own choosing and to discuss the research ongoing in their laboratories. Participants will then select a faculty advisor, under whose guidance they will formulate a detailed research plan and be assigned specific readings from the primary scientific literature, to be completed before their return at the beginning of the summer. From June 15 through late August, they will conduct research under close faculty supervision and both hear and present research seminars. Where merited, their results will published. Each student will submit a written report about the progress of their research and the impact of the program upon their career goals.
