REU Site: Research Institute in Sociology and Social Inequality

该项目由SBE理事会的本科生研究经验（REU）站点计划资助。它具有科学和社会效益，并将研究和教育相结合。这个REU网站项目让学生沉浸在为期8周的暑期研究经历中，重点是社会学和社会不平等。该项目积极招募本科生与德州农工大学的教师一起进行研究。每个REU参与者的活动包括：社会科学理论、方法和实践的实践课程；了解研究生教育机会和科学领域的职业；与教师导师完成一项研究项目；写一篇研究论文；并在下一学年的专业学术会议上展示他们的研究成果。该项目：(1)增加了来自代表性不足群体的本科生的社会科学研究机会；(2)提高参与者的科学素养，培养具有研究技能的当代劳动力；(3)通过教育和强化指导，为学生从事研究工作做好准备。预期的影响是增加学生对社会科学研究的理解，增加攻读研究生教育和社会科学研究专业的学生人数。该项目要求参与者参与新的严谨的研究项目，重点关注社会不平等，项目跨越我们博士课程的广度和深度。该项目为学生提供研究实践经验，强化指导和独立研究技能。学生参与的研究侧重于评估当今美国不平等的性质和程度，特别强调理解如何概念化、操作化和测量对理解社会不平等至关重要的概念。在开始暑期学院之前，每个学生都有一个教师导师和一个研究项目。研究项目的例子包括测试种族和民族调查测量的拟议变化，研究如何使用实验方法减少甚至消除小团体互动中的地位不平等，以及调查父母监禁对青少年和年轻人结果的影响。这些示例项目展示了该计划的广度。学生将根据他们的实质性研究兴趣以及他们最感兴趣的技能来匹配研究项目，从访谈设计到进行实验，再到分析复杂的调查数据。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并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，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. This REU site project immerses students in an 8-week summer research experience focused on Sociology and Social Inequality. The project actively recruits undergraduates to conduct research with faculty at Texas A&M University. Activities for each REU participant include: a course with practical, hands-on instruction in social science theory, methods, and practices; learning about graduate educational opportunities and careers in science; completing a research project with a faculty mentor; writing a research paper; and presenting their research findings at a professional academic conference the following school year. This program: (1) increases the social science research opportunities available to undergraduates from underrepresented groups; (2) increases the scientific literacy of participants to prepare a contemporary workforce trained in research skills; and (3) prepares students for careers with a research focus through education and intensive mentoring. The intended impact is to increase students' understanding of social science research and increase the number of students pursuing graduate education and professional careers in social science research. This project involves participants in new and rigorous research projects focused on social inequality, with projects that span the breadth and depth of our doctoral program. The project provides students with hands-on experience in research, intensive mentoring, and independent research skills. Students participate in research that focuses on evaluating the nature and extent of inequality in the United States today, with a special emphasis on understanding how to conceptualize, operationalize, and measure concepts central to understanding social inequality. Each student is paired with a faculty mentor and research project before they start the summer institute. Examples of research projects include testing proposed changes to the survey measurement of race and ethnicity, investigating how status inequalities might be decreased or even eliminated in small group interactions using experimental methods, and investigating the impact of parental incarceration on youth and young adult outcomes. These example projects demonstrate the breadth of the program. Students will be matched to research projects based on their substantive research interests as well as the kinds of skills they are most interested in developing, from interview design, to conducting experiments, to the analysis of complex survey data.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.