REU Site: Intensive Mentored Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) in Psychology and Neuroscience at an Urban Public College

该项目由SBE董事会的本科生研究经验（REU）网站计划资助。它具有科学和社会效益，并将研究和教育结合起来。纽约城市大学布鲁克林学院（BC）REU项目旨在通过以下方式促进科学和更广泛社区的发现，同时促进指导，学习和专业发展：（1）让来自代表性不足群体的学生沉浸其中（主要是女性，少数民族，第一代大学生）在心理学和神经科学的创新研究;（2）指导学生完成从研究问题的产生到结果交流的科学过程;（3）让学生参与强调实验室工作的相关性和应用价值的教学法;（4）提高学生在研究生院和专业职位上的竞争力;（5）提高地方中小学教师的科研能力，并对学生产生下游的正向学习效应。该REU计划还使教师能够监督有才华的个人，否则他们可能会错过辅导实验室和专业发展机会，并有助于下一代科学家的培训和进步。该REU计划的中心（科学）组成部分是在心理学，生物学和化学系教师导师的监督下进行为期一个学期的实验室沉浸，从而完成研究项目。我们强调高质量的研究和心理学和神经科学理论与数据的设计，执行和解释的整合。我们每年选择十名学生进行指导研究项目，特别是从少数民族服务，公共两年制和四年制院校在纽约大都市区的本科生。学生还参加每周教学：一个研讨会，双重重点放在心理学和神经科学原理/研究方法和专业问题/职业发展;一个期刊俱乐部，通过学习选择，阅读，批判性分析，并提出原始研究论文的摘要，使学生熟悉科学文献;以及一个统计方法研讨会，强调数据分析，统计推理和学术背景下的研究成果的介绍。鉴于在研究中坚持道德规范的重要性，我们的学生还接受了密集的科学道德培训。作为一个顶点的经验，学生提出了一个海报在卑诗省科学研究日，在那里他们竞争的基础上，他们的工作质量和交流他们的发现的能力奖项。我们的许多学生与他们的导师合作，在同行评审的期刊上发表他们的成果。此外，该项目还有一项可再生能源技术，（教师研究经验）部分，为当地初中和高中教师提供研究方法课程，指导实验室经验，和专业发展的机会，以提高他们的研究能力，提高当地中学和高中的科学教育水平。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得支持，通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估。

This project is funded from the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Sites program in the SBE Directorate. It has both scientific and societal benefits, and integrates research and education. The Brooklyn College (BC) of the City University of New York REU program aims to advance discovery for the scientific and broader communities while promoting mentoring, learning, and professional development by: (1) immersing students from underrepresented groups (primarily women, racial minorities, first-generation college students) in innovative research in psychology and neuroscience; (2) guiding students through the scientific process, from generation of research questions to communication of results; (3) engaging students in didactics that highlight the relevance and applied value of their laboratory work; (4) enhancing students' competitiveness for graduate school and professional positions; and (5) boosting the research competence of local middle and high school teachers with downstream positive learning effects for their students. This REU program also enables faculty members to supervise talented individuals who might otherwise miss out on mentored laboratory and professional development opportunities, and contributes to the training and advancement of the next generation of scientists. The central (scientific) component of this REU program is a semester-long laboratory immersion, under the supervision of Psychology, Biology, and Chemistry Department faculty mentors, which results in a completed research project. We emphasize the generation of high quality research and integration of psychological and neuroscientific theory with the design, execution, and interpretation of data. We select ten students annually for mentored research projects, especially undergraduates from ethnic-minority serving, public two-year and four-year institutions in the New York metropolitan area. Students also attend weekly didactics: a seminar that dually focuses on psychology and neuroscience principles/research methods and professional issues/career development; a journal club that familiarizes students with scientific literature through learning to select, read, critically analyze, and present summaries of original research papers; and a statistical methods seminar that emphasizes data analysis, statistical reasoning, and presentation of research findings in academic contexts. Given the importance of adhering to ethical norms in research, our students also undergo an intensive scientific ethics training. As a capstone experience, students present a poster at the BC Science Research Day, where they compete for awards based on the quality of their work and ability to communicate their findings. Many of our students work with their mentors to publish their results in peer-reviewed journals. In addition, the project has a RET (Research Experiences for Teachers) component, which provides local middle and high school teachers with coursework in research methods, mentored laboratory experience, and professional development opportunities to enhance their research competencies and raise the level of science education in local middle schools and high schools.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.