REU Site: Research Experience for Undergraduates at Western Washington University

REU 网站：西华盛顿大学本科生的研究经验

• 批准号: 1359330
• 负责人: Paul Spiegel
• 金额: $ 27万
• 依托单位: Western Washington University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-08-01 至 2018-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1359330&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: REU; Site; Research; Experience; Undergraduates

This renewal award from the Division of Chemistry (CHE) led by Professors James Spiegel will supports a Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) site in the Department of Chemistry at Western Washington University for three summers. This REU program supports eight undergraduate students for 10 weeks each summer from community colleges and small four-year universities with limited student research opportunities. The combination of externally funded research with the central involvement of undergraduate students in research projects results in an environment where REU participants are involved in meaningful summer research experiences. REU participants are able to choose a research project from one of three main areas of chemistry: biochemistry, synthetic chemistry and materials chemistry. The broader impacts of this REU site are to provide undergraduate students who have limited access to chemistry research with an authentic research experience. Among the recruited participants, an emphasis is placed on underrepresented minorities from community colleges and the University of Alaska system, resulting in a diverse population of students in this program, which contributes to increasing the diversity of the scientific workforce. Furthermore, the incorporation of community college students into an REU program has an additional impact by encouraging these students to consider graduate school as an educational opportunity.The combination of well-funded, cutting-edge research, and the involvement of undergraduate students in research, results in an outstanding environment for external undergraduate students to be involved in a summer research experience. REU participants are able to choose a project from one of three main areas of chemistry: biochemistry (protein structure, protein folding and design, biophysics of DNA modification), synthetic chemistry (organic method development, natural product synthesis, small molecule activation), and materials chemistry (solar concentrators, heterogeneous catalysis, ionic liquids, nanomaterials). In addition to numerous formal and informal activities for the entire group of REU participants, these divisional groups provide additional training that is specific to the research area, including workshops and combined group meetings. The culmination of the summer program is a symposium in which REU participants give poster presentations on their research projects in addition to keynote speakers from each of the three research areas.

由詹姆斯·斯皮格尔教授领导的化学部（CHE）的这一更新奖将支持西华盛顿大学化学系的本科生研究经验（REU）网站三个夏天。这个REU计划每年夏天为来自社区学院和小型四年制大学的八名本科生提供10周的支持，这些大学的学生研究机会有限。外部资助的研究与本科生在研究项目的核心参与相结合的结果在一个环境中，REU参与者参与有意义的夏季研究经验。REU参与者可以从化学的三个主要领域之一选择研究项目：生物化学，合成化学和材料化学。这个REU网站的更广泛的影响是提供本科生谁有机会有限的化学研究与真实的研究经验。在招募的参与者中，重点放在来自社区学院和阿拉斯加大学系统的代表性不足的少数民族上，从而使该计划的学生群体多样化，这有助于增加科学劳动力的多样性。此外，社区大学的学生加入REU项目，鼓励这些学生将研究生院视为一个教育机会，从而产生额外的影响。资金充足的尖端研究与本科生参与研究的结合，为外部本科生参与夏季研究体验提供了出色的环境。REU参与者可以从化学的三个主要领域之一选择一个项目：生物化学（蛋白质结构，蛋白质折叠和设计，DNA修饰的生物物理学），合成化学（有机方法开发，天然产物合成，小分子活化）和材料化学（太阳能聚光器，多相催化，离子液体，纳米材料）。除了许多正式和非正式的活动，为整个集团的REU参与者，这些分区组提供额外的培训，是具体的研究领域，包括研讨会和联合小组会议。夏季计划的高潮是一个研讨会，其中REU参与者除了来自三个研究领域的主题演讲者外，还就他们的研究项目进行了海报展示。