REU Site: Stanford SURGE- Sustainability Undergraduate Research in Geoscience and Engineering

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This renewal REU site, entitled “Stanford SURGE- Sustainability Undergraduate Research in Geoscience and Engineering” program, will match 10 undergraduate students with faculty in the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability that are in their area of interest. The undergraduate students participating in the SURGE program will receive an eight-week-long mentored summer research experience in the areas of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Earth & Planetary Sciences, Earth System Science, Energy Science & Engineering, Geophysics, Oceans, and the broader field of Sustainability, including Environmental Justice. Participating students must be enrolled in an US university/college, including, but not limited to, community colleges, four-year universities, and minority-serving institutions. Students from who do not have prior research experience, students who come from undergraduate institutions with limited research opportunities or from minority-serving institutions and students from historically excluded backgrounds in the geosciences and engineering will be encouraged to apply. During this award, the SURGE program will provide research opportunities to 30 students with the aim of helping to create a diverse pipeline into the broader field of sustainability post-graduate programs and careers. SURGE Scholars will be matched with faculty members based on research interest, application essays, letters of recommendation, and interviews. In addition to gaining scientific training in a Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability research group, students will also participate in graduate-school preparation and professional-development activities such as a statistical analysis prep course that meets twice per week and workshops on applying to graduate school, planning career trajectories, and giving oral presentations. Participants will also participate in a coding bootcamp at the beginning of the summer. Weekly faculty research seminars will familiarize students with a broad range of research topics in the Earth sciences, while educational field trips will provide opportunities for students to learn in the field and build a sense of community. A research symposium concludes the program, where students present their project findings through oral presentations and posters in front of faculty, mentors, and other Stanford Earth colleagues who help review the presentations. SURGE scholars will live on the Stanford campus and have access to dining halls and other Stanford amenities, sharing the residential experience with fellow scholars and thus enhancing the cohort research experience. Program success will be measured through student and faculty surveys. SURGE scholars will be tracked after the program to determine their career paths and to provide an alumni network.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.