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

该项目由SBE理事会的本科生研究经验(REU)站点计划资助。它兼具科学和社会效益，集研究和教育于一体。纽约城市大学布鲁克林学院(BC)的REU项目旨在促进科学和更广泛社区的发现，同时通过以下方式促进指导、学习和专业发展：(1)使来自代表性不足群体(主要是女性、少数族裔、第一代大学生)的学生沉浸在心理学和神经科学的创新研究中；(2)指导学生完成从产生研究问题到交流结果的科学过程；(3)让学生参与突出其实验室工作的相关性和应用价值的教学；(4)增强学生对研究生院和专业职位的竞争力；(5)通过对学生的下游正向学习效应，提高当地初高中教师的研究能力。这一REU计划还使教职员工能够监督那些否则可能错过指导实验室和专业发展机会的有才华的人，并为培养和提升下一代科学家做出贡献。这个REU项目的中心(科学)部分是在心理学、生物和化学系教师指导下进行为期一学期的实验室沉浸，这将导致一个完整的研究项目。我们强调产生高质量的研究，并将心理学和神经科学理论与数据的设计、执行和解释相结合。我们每年为指导研究项目挑选10名学生，特别是来自纽约大都会地区两年制和四年制公立院校的少数民族本科生。学生们还参加每周一次的教学：双重关注心理学和神经科学原理/研究方法和职业问题/职业发展的研讨会；通过学习选择、阅读、批判性分析和提交原始研究论文摘要来熟悉科学文献的期刊俱乐部；以及强调数据分析、统计推理和在学术背景下展示研究成果的统计方法研讨会。鉴于在研究中坚持伦理规范的重要性，我们的学生也接受了密集的科学伦理培训。作为一种巅峰体验，学生们在不列颠哥伦比亚省科学研究日上展示一张海报，他们根据自己的工作质量和交流发现的能力来竞争奖项。我们的许多学生与他们的导师合作，在同行评议的期刊上发表他们的结果。此外，该项目还设有RET(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机会，以增强他们的研究能力，提高当地初中和高中的科学教育水平。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.