The Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program at the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources located in Charleston, SC will host five students during a 12-week summer internship program. The Minorities in Marine and Environmental Sciences (MIMES) Program will provide a great breadth of laboratory and field-based research expertise to these undergraduate students who will be recruited from across the nation. This site has a proven track record of incorporating expert mentors, facilities, equipment and experiences from the closely situated Federal and state research institutions that comprise the Marine Resources Center at Fort Johnson, Charleston, South Carolina. Students will be required to design and complete rigorous, independent mentor-guided research projects. Furthermore, students will attend classes on statistics, scientific writing, and presentation skills to train them for successful future careers in the marine and environmental sciences. As final products of the program, students will be required to prepare both a written final report and an oral presentation on the findings from their projects. Oral presentations will be given as part of a day-long research colloquium. Following the program, students are encouraged to attend a professional meeting or conference to present their work.
The need for minority professionals in science, mathematics, and engineering in the United States is greater than ever in light of both the increasing proportion of minorities contributing to the national population and concerns over a broad suite of anthropogenically-driven environmental issues. The United States faces a national need to maintain a representative mix of human resources to solve a variety of future social and scientific problems, particularly in professional fields in which the percentages of minorities remain small. Since 1989, primarily through summer internship programs, staff at the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources’ Marine Resources Division (SCDNR-MRD) have provided "hands on" research experiences to more than 120 minority undergraduate students recruited from colleges and universities across the United States and its territories. These programs have been built around mentor-guided independent research projects which are widely valued as excellent opportunities to expose students to science and prepare them for careers in research, industry, and government. In 1996, with funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF), SCDNR-MRD staff developed the Minorities in Marine and Environmental Sciences (MIMES) Program, an intensive program of mentor-guided research and classroom instruction intended to increase participation by under-represented minorities in marine and environmental sciences. The MIMES Program constitutes a 12-week (mid-May to early August) summer internship program administered by SCDNR MRD staff at the Marine Resources Research Institute (MRRI) in Charleston, South Carolina. Intern research project mentors and class instructors are engaged from Federal, State, and academic institutions that are close collaborative neighbors at the Fort Johnson Marine Resources Center (MRC) on James Island, SC. These institutions include the College of Charleston, the Medical University of South Carolina, the Hollings Marine Laboratory (HML), the Center for Coastal Environmental Health and Biomolecular Research (CCEHBR) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Several of these institutions host concurrent Research Experience for Undergraduate (REU) Programs (e.g., NSF-funded College of Charleston Fort Johnson REU Program, the Medical University of South Carolina Summer Undergraduate Research Program (MUSC SURP): Oceans and Human Health Track, and the NOAA Hollings Scholar Internship Program), providing diverse opportunities for research and social interactions between interns and creating a dynamic REU community at the MRC. These institutions firmly believe in the concept of mentor-based training and are proud of the positive results achieved by the MIMES Program. The academic excellence and commitment of staff at the SCDNR MRD and its partnering institutions, combined with the immediate access that the MRC provides to coastal habitats, state-of-the-art facilities and equipment, are key ingredients to the value and success of the MIMES Program. Interns accepted into the MIMES Program are hired as SCDNR MRD hourly employees and are offered a challenging yet rewarding scientific experience. Interns are required to design and complete rigorous, independent, mentor-guided research projects. MIMES Program interns also attend classes on the scientific method, scientific writing, ethics, and presentation skills that prepare them for successful future careers in the marine and environmental sciences. As final products of the program, the interns are required to prepare both a written final report and an oral presentation. Oral presentations are given as part of a day-long research colloquium co-hosted with other concurrent REU programs and attended by research professionals from across the MRC. Many of the MIMES Program interns are also given the opportunity to present their research at national and international conferences, and program staff continue to serve as mentors for these students long after they have completed their time in the MIMES Program.
