REU Site: Engaging Undergraduates in Interdisciplinary Evolutionary Science

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This REU Site award to the University of Iowa, located in Iowa City, IA, will support the training of 10 students for 10 weeks during the summers of 2019-2021. The focus of this REU is training in evolutionary science, with students working on research projects across several disciplines. Three academic departments will collaborate with the University of Iowa Museum of Natural History (UIMNH) to offer research projects that span a wide range of topics, including animal behavior, paleontology, and genome evolution. Students will work on evolution-themed projects in one of these specific areas, but will also work as a cohort to make broad connections among disciplines. As part of the program, students will receive training in research best practices, participate in career workshops, create a digital exhibit for the UIMNH, and make formal research presentations based on their work. Housing, a meal allowance and stipend will be provided to all participants. Students from underrepresented minority groups and who have limited research opportunities at their home institution are especially encouraged to apply. Students will be selected based on previous academic performance, enthusiasm for conducting research, interest in specific faculty research projects, and potential for future success in a research-related career. It is anticipated that a total of 30 students, primarily from schools with limited research opportunities, will be trained in the program. Students will learn how research is conducted, and many will present the results of their work at scientific conferences. Students will also learn skills in science communication including digital museum exhibits to communicate the results of their research to the public. A common web-based assessment tool used by all REU Site programs funded by the Division of Biological Infrastructure will be used to determine the effectiveness of the training program. Students will be tracked after the program in order to determine their 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 https://biology.uiowa.edu/reu, or by contacting the PI (Dr. Andrew Forbes at andrew-forbes@uiowa.edu) or the co-PI (Dr. Maurine Neiman at maurine-neiman@uiowa.edu).This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.