REU Site: Imaging and Molecular Approaches to Biological Problems

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This REU Site award to Johns Hopkins University, located in Baltimore, MD, will support the training of 10 students for 10 weeks during the summers of 2018-2020. Participating students will pursue research projects that involve the use of imaging or other molecular techniques to answer important biological questions. Participating faculty and labs are drawn from the Departments of Biology, Biophysics and Chemistry, and the Carnegie Institution Department of Embryology. In addition to lab research, students will engage in activities designed to improve scientific communication, to introduce concepts in responsible conduct of research, to provide practice for the GRE and to prepare participants for successful application to graduate programs. Applications are submitted through the program web page and comprise brief essays, transcripts and letters of recommendation. Students with limited research experience or limited research opportunities are especially encouraged to apply.It is anticipated that a total of 30 students, primarily from schools with limited research opportunities, including two-year colleges, will be trained in the program. Students will learn how research is conducted and communicated, and many will present the results of their work at scientific conferences. Students will participate in a community of summer researchers composed of undergraduates drawn from across the country who are engaging in inquiry in one of many disciplines.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 http://www.bio.jhu.edu/BioREU, or by contacting the PI (Joel Schildbach at joel@jhu.edu) or the co-PI (Michael McCaffery at jmccaffery@jhu.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.