REU Site: Interdisciplinary Research Experience in Computational Sciences

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This award funds a Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Site at the Center for Computation and Technology (CCT) at Louisiana State University (LSU). A multi-disciplinary team of Computational Science faculty from several LSU departments collaborates to provide participating students with research-learning experiences in the computational aspects of multiple scientific disciplines, including Chemistry, Computer Science, Digital Media, Mathematics, Physics, Astronomy, Biological Sciences, and Civil, Environmental, Petroleum, Electrical, and Computer Engineering. The overall objectives of the REU Site are to promote early engagement of undergraduate students in research, to expose students to high-performance computing and other scientific cyberinfrastructure resources, to foster active learning through hands-on experiences in a collaborative research environment, and to inspire students to pursue advanced STEM education and STEM research careers. The REU Site pursues these objectives by engaging students in a set of carefully and extensively planned research projects that pose a wide range of scientific and technological challenges. In tandem with these projects, the program offers a variety of activities designed to improve students' computing, reasoning, problem-solving, research, and communication skills. The program also fosters long-term mentoring relationships between students and faculty, through intensive collaboration and social interaction.Computational Science will only fulfill its potential if advances in hardware are accompanies by advances in education and workforce development. The intellectual merit of this REU Site project lies in the strong team of experienced researchers and the outstanding collaborative research environment; the project's broader impact lies in providing students with a research-learning experience that will bear directly on their future career paths. We have found that the combination of individualized training and immersion in a multidisciplinary research group has been successful in engaging a diverse student-body to explore Computational Science. We recruit heavily from historically black colleges and universities and other minority-serving institutions, from community colleges, and from smaller universities without extensive graduate programs in the STEM fields. We also recruit entering freshmen, with the purpose of catching their interest early in their careers. As these students return to their home institutions and present their summer research, other students are encouraged to consider similar paths, creating a "virtuous spiral" of rising student interest in STEM learning, in Computational Science discovery, and in technology and innovation careers.