REU Site: Diversifying Undergraduate Participation in Computational Biology

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This REU Site award to Auburn University, located in Auburn, AL, will support the training of 10 students for 10 weeks during the summers of 2017-2019. Undergraduate students will participate in research projects in computational biology/bioinformatics. Students will work with faculty mentors on projects involving functional, evolutionary, environmental, and speciation genomics, among other topics using large-scale computational analyses. Several professional development activities are associated with the training program such as a summer-long writing workshop, computational skills training, graduate school preparation and planning as well as training and mentoring in the responsible conduct of research. It is anticipated that a total of 30 students, primarily from schools with limited research opportunities, will be trained in the program. There is a particular focus on increasing the participation of underserved groups in computational biology research. Students will learn how research is conducted, and will present the results of their work at scientific conferences including a capstone research symposium with other summer undergraduate research program participants at Auburn. A common web-based assessment tool used by all REU programs funded by the Division of Biological Infrastructure (Directorate for Biological Sciences) will be used to determine the effectiveness of the training program. Students will be tracked after the program in order to determine student career paths. Students will be asked to respond to an automatic email sent via the NSF reporting system. More information about the program is available by visiting www.auburn.edu/bioinformatics/nsf_reu.htm or by contacting the PI Dr. Leslie Goertzen at bioinformatics@auburn.edu.