REU Site: The Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation Research Experiences for Undergraduates (NEESreu)

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Abstract0552992RobleeThis award supports a two-year, distributed REU site administered by NEES Consortium, Inc. (NEESinc) and is an outcome of the review of proposals submitted to NSF 05-592, Research Experiences for Undergraduates. NEESinc will leverage its geographically distributed network of world-class experimental facilities, its connecting cyberinfrastructure, and its extended community of engineering and cross-disciplinary mentors from academic programs across the United States to provide 35 undergraduates, over the two-year award duration, with an array of REU opportunities for collaborative earthquake engineering research. NEESinc will centrally coordinate access for the REU students to participate in one of several alternative REU Tracks to be offered at several node sites. Possible node sites consist of the 15 NEES experimental facilities located at universities across the United States, the NEES Cyberinfrastructure Center (NEESit) located at the University of California, San Diego, San Diego Supercomputer Center, and the NEESinc headquarters located in Davis, CA. Intellectual Merit: The NEESinc ten-week summer REU program will provide each student with a common suite of skills-development activities as well as a unique mentored on-site research experience selected from a flexible portfolio of alternative tracks. Skills development will focus on processes for independent investigation, oral and written technical communications, collaboration through cyber networks and face-to-face interactions, and professional ethics. Cohort experiences will be provided through a series of gatherings and by using advanced cyber-collaboration tools. The REU experience will culminate with participation in the annual Young Researchers Symposium where students will present papers on their research projects. On-site experiences provide alternative research tracks such as in-depth independent study at a single site, small-group topic synthesis at one or multiple sites, and distance-collaboration experiences between two or more sites. NEESinc is positioned to centrally coordinate the NEES-wide REU program as it already manages the operations of the 15 NEES experimental facilities and NEESit as well as coordinates NEES Research Program (NEESR)-researcher access to these facilities. Broader Impacts: This REU program provides mentor, experimental, and cyber resources from the NEES community to contribute directly and significantly toward the advancement and diversification of young scholars interested in pursuing STEM-related careers. Student recruitment will focus on attaining a diversified cadre of REU students, and balancing participants from a broad range of institutions including minority-serving institutions, primarily undergraduate-serving programs, community colleges, and vocational programs. NEES nationally distributed infrastructure, collaboratory culture, innovative REU tracks, and community-wide activities provide an ideal environment to excite and motivate future leaders to prepare for, and engage in, advanced technical studies. These leaders will provide the technical discoveries and innovations of tomorrow that will mitigate losses and improve the performance of the civil infrastructure to withstand devastating earthquakes and other extreme loads.