REU Site: Exploring Engineered Cells

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This three year REU Site program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst will engage 9 undergraduate students in research projects that involve applications of cellular engineering to challenges in pharmaceutical production, protein design, and bioenergy. Understanding cellular function and manipulating cells/tissues to perform in a particular manner is the basis of many ventures in biomedical, biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. Specific objectives of this REU Site program are to: 1) encourage and motivate students to pursue graduate studies in cellular engineering, including women, minority, and deaf and hearing impaired students; (2) train students to transition from dependent to independent researchers; 3) enable students to communicate effectively across disciplines; and 4) provide students with strategies for professional success through a Professional Development Seminar. In addition to the research projects, the REU participants will be involved in research cluster meetings with larger groups of students and faculty; a Professional Development Seminar covering career paths, ethics, diversity in the workplace, identifying mentors, interdisciplinary communication, team-building, and development of collegial relationships; research seminars by faculty and graduate students; and an end of year student poster session.What are the broader impacts of the proposed activity?Recruitment efforts will target students majoring in chemical engineering, bioengineering, chemistry, biology and biochemistry. The PI will leverage the NSF-funded Northeast Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (NEAGEP) and the Northeast Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP), both led by the University of Massachusetts campus, to enhance the recruitment of underrepresented minority students. In addition, the Principal Investigator will collaborate with the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) at Rochester Institute of Technology to increase participation of deaf and hearing impaired students in this REU program.