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 2023-2025. It is anticipated that a total of 30 students, primarily from schools with limited research opportunities or from an under-represented group, will be trained in the program. Students will learn how research is conducted and how to communicate science to public audiences. Many participants will present the results of their work at scientific conferences. Assessment of the program will be done through online surveys. Students will be tracked after the program in order to determine their career paths.The focus of this REU is evolutionary science, with students conducting research projects across several disciplines. Scientist-mentors in six academic departments will offer research projects that span a wide range of topics, including evolutionary ecology, paleontology, genomics, evolution of infectious disease, and developmental biology. Students will work on evolution-themed projects in one of these specific areas and will also work as a cohort to make broad connections among disciplines. As part of the program, students will receive training in ethical and responsible conduct in research, participate in career workshops, make formal research presentations based on their work, and create an interactive digital research poster. Students will be selected by program directors 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. Students from groups under-represented in science and who have limited research opportunities at their home institution will be especially encouraged to apply.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.