REU Site: Real-World Research Experiences at the National Weather Center

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Through participation in the National Weather Center (NWC) REU program, 60 United States undergraduate students over a 5-year period will participate in a potentially life-changing research and career exploration experience. Participants experience the joy of scientific discovery while conducting cutting-edge research and learning skills to become scientists. Each student collaborates with one or more scientists in the weather, climate, and radar organizations within the University of Oklahoma-Norman's University Research Campus to conduct research and live the life of a scientist. Participants attend lectures, participate in workshops to build skills and knowledge relevant to the job, learn and practice a variety of research methods, and present their research in both written and oral formats. Past participants' research has advanced knowledge and understanding in basic and applied research. Additionally, in this site renewal the grant investigators will leverage ever-advancing innovations in education to incorporate additional skill-building of software development and data management practices at the undergraduate level on top of the comprehensive activity set. The research community in proximity to this REU Site enthusiastically supports this program, and this renewal will include new partners in the Radar Innovations Laboratory and South Central Climate Science Center, allowing the program to include 12 participants each year. The majority of participants will come from departments with little to no active STEM research. This REU will have broader impacts at the individual, local, university, state, national, and international level through the production of formal and professional conference publications each year while also producing or improving databases and tools useful beyond the individual research projects. Participants' research results may be used for National Weather Service training and emergency management operations. The goals of this REU site are to 1) recruit and select a diverse pool of competitive applicants from across the U.S., 2) show participants the nature of a research career through direct experience and interactions with scientists, peers, local graduate students, and REU staff, 3) build participants' self-efficacy in regard to their capability to conduct research, 4) expose participants to the variety of career options found in and near Norman, Oklahoma, 5) assist each participant with graduate school and career decisions and 6) track and network past participants. The learning objectives will move participants from a pedagogical (dependent) to andragogical (independent) role. The participants will read, discuss, and comprehend technical journal articles, build and use computer skills for research and presentation, lead their own research project (with guidance), learn and apply a variety of research methods to conduct quality research, learn about additional research methods through peer presentations, scientific lectures, workshops, learning contracts, and literature reviews, prepare a print-ready manuscript and abstract on their work, present their research in written and oral formats to both the NWC community and to the broader scientific community.