REU Site: Biogeochemical Educational Experiences-South Africa

这是一个本科生研究经验（REU）网站，一个在南非国际场地的夏季项目。该项目的目的是招募和鼓励保留美国（以及南非）在地球与生物科学、环境科学和工程领域代表性不足的本科生。该项目将解决在美国吸引代表性不足的少数民族学生参与科学的关键需求。它包括让本科生沉浸在依赖团队合作的文化、科学和跨学科氛围中。学生将扩展他们的知识基础和他们的领域和实验室技能。他们将对地下生物地球化学的跨学科研究有所了解，在他们之间和与知名科学家建立国际网络，在地方和国家科学会议上发表演讲，并可能选择继续他们的科学事业。7名在地球科学、化学、微生物学和/或工程学方面受过正规教育的本科生将在夏季花7周的时间与几位国际多学科导师一起进行实践、假设驱动的研究项目。学生将体验跨学科研究，并了解如何在南非矿山、尾矿池和温泉等领域完成研究的第一手资料。设施包括现有的nsf现场实验室，位于南非Glenharvie的几个矿山附近，以及UOFS的实验室。学生教育和研究计划将包括简短的一般讲座/实验课程，然后是小型小组教程/实验课程，涵盖跨学科LExEn研究计划中的一系列主题。在这个研究经历中，学生们将进行实验来检验他们的研究假设。导师将提供指导和指导，因为他们与学生并肩工作。本项目由地球科学司和国际科学与工程办公室共同资助。

This is a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Site, a summer program with an international venue of South Africa. The purpose of this project is to recruit and encourage the retention of underrepresented undergraduates within the United States (and, concomitantly, South Africa) in the fields of Earth and Biological Sciences, Environmental Sciences, and Engineering. The project will address the critical need to engage underrepresented minority students in science in the U.S. It involves immersion of undergraduate students in a cultural, scientific, and interdisciplinary atmosphere that relies on teamwork. The students will expand their knowledge base and their field and laboratory skills. They will gain an appreciation for interdisciplinary research in biogeochemistry of the subsurface, develop international networks among themselves and with established scientists, give presentations at local and national scientific meetings, and possibly choose to continue their careers in science.Seven underrepresented undergraduate students with previous formal education in geoscience, chemistry, microbiology, and/or engineering will spend seven weeks during the summer doing hands-on, hypothesis-driven research projects with several international multidisciplinary mentors. The students will experience interdisciplinary research and learn first-hand how that research is accomplished in the field: at South African mines, tailing ponds, and hotsprings. Facilities include the existing NSF-field laboratory near several mines at Glenharvie, South Africa, and the laboratories at UOFS. The student education and research program will include brief general lecture/laboratory sessions followed by mini-group tutorial/laboratory sessions covering a range of topics within the interdisciplinary LExEn research program. During this research experience, the students will perform experiments to test their research hypotheses. Mentors will provide guidance and instruction as they work side by side with the students.This project is jointly funded by the Division of Earth Sciences and the Office of International Sciences and Engineering.