REU Site: Undergraduate Research in Molecular Biology

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ObjectivesThe overall purpose of this program is to motivate and prepare talented students, specifically more women and minority students, to earn their PhD degree in basic life science disciplines and eventually to become members of the faculty at colleges and universities or to take leadership roles in the private sector. Means to achieve objectivesThis NSF award will sustain the highly successful NSF-REU program developed by University of Minnesota faculty over the past twelve years. For the next five years, the participants will continue to be recruited nationwide, but particularly from Historically Black Institutions and other small private colleges. Each year, twelve high ability undergraduate students will come to Minnesota for the 10-week summer program. The students will spend the first three weeks of the summer in an intensive three-credit laboratory course at the Lake Itasca laboratories learning basic molecular biology techniques. Following the course, each student will spend seven weeks on the Twin Cities campus completing an independent research project that uses many of the molecular techniques learned in the course. The research project will be conducted under the direction of one of the more than 100 faculty members affiliated with the program who share a common interest in molecular biology research. Supplemental activities will include weekly student seminars and evening workshops designed to strengthen future applications for postgraduate studies. All students will present the results of their research project through a scientific poster at a campus-wide symposium at the end of the program. An orientation weekend at the start of the program, the laboratory course at Itasca, communal housing in campus dormitories and numerous social, cultural and recreational activities throughout the summer weekends will foster the formation of strong personal and professional student-student and student-faculty bonds.Outcomes and significance of awardStudents will have an interesting and exciting summer that will strengthen their confidence and their desire to go to graduate school to earn an MS, PhD or MD/PhD degree in a basic life science discipline. Intensive exposure to the high quality and quantity of research opportunities as well as the supportive and nurturing relationships with faculty mentors will motivate many participants to pursue graduate studies. In addition, undergraduate students from all backgrounds and ethnicity will have the opportunity to interact with graduate student role models to encourage undergraduates from diverse backgrounds to seek graduate school degrees. Over the long term, increased numbers of African American, American Indian and Hispanic students will be motivated to earn graduate degrees in basic life science disciplines and eventually to become members of the faculty at colleges and universities or leaders in the private sector. These new recipients of MS and PhD degrees will be role models and mentors who can help move a much larger number of individuals from underrepresented minority groups closer to full participation in the scientific and technological workforce.