REU Site: Undergraduate Research in Chemistry at Western Washington University

位于华盛顿州贝灵厄姆的西华盛顿大学(WWU)获得了REU Site奖，该奖项将在2018-2020年夏季期间支持8名学生进行为期10周的培训。该网站由美国国家科学基金会数学和物理科学局的化学部与国防部合作支持。WWU化学系的这个项目为来自社区学院和研究机会有限的小型四年制大学的学生提供研究项目和专业发展。在招募的参与者中，重点是来自社区大学的代表人数不足的少数族裔。在教师导师的指导下，学生们在生物化学、合成化学或材料化学领域进行研究。除了为这些学生提供真实的研究体验外，该项目还为学生从社区学院过渡到四年制大学提供便利，从而增加了这些学生获得高级理科学位的可能性。REU参与者的研究培训和研讨会为他们提供了在化学或相关科学领域的职业培训，并有助于增加科学工作者的多样性。学生参与者从以下三个主要化学领域中选择一个研究项目：生物化学(蛋白质和核酸的结构、功能和工程)，合成化学(有机和有机金属方法开发，天然产物合成，小分子活化，生物材料)，或材料化学(纳米材料，太阳能聚光器，多相催化，计算方法)。该计划还提供研讨会，以改善学生的观点，如何进行研究，科学交流，并开始他们的职业生涯在化学。除了为整个REU参与者小组举办的许多正式和非正式活动外，还利用分部小组(生物化学、合成化学和材料化学)提供针对研究领域的额外培训，包括讲习班和联合小组会议。许多项目也是WWU多名研究人员之间的协作，使REU的学生能够与更多的教职员工互动，并接触到更广泛的研究主题。夏季计划的高潮是一个研讨会，在研讨会上，REU参与者除了来自三个研究领域的主旨演讲者外，还将就他们的研究项目进行海报演示。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This REU Site award to Western Washington University (WWU), located in Bellingham, WA, will support the training of 8 students for 10 weeks during the summers of 2018-2020. This site is supported by the NSF Division of Chemistry in the Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorate, in partnership with the Department of Defense. This program in WWU's Department of Chemistry provides research projects and professional development for students from community colleges and small four-year universities with limited research opportunities. Among the recruited participants, an emphasis is placed on underrepresented minorities from community colleges. Under the guidance of a faculty mentor, the students perform research in the areas of biochemistry, synthetic chemistry, or materials chemistry. In addition to providing an authentic research experience for these students, this program facilitates student transitions from community colleges to four-year universities, thus increasing the likelihood of these students obtaining an advanced degree in the sciences. The research training and workshops for REU participants provides them with training towards a career in chemistry, or a related science, and contributes to increasing the diversity of the scientific workforce.The student participants choose a research project from one of three main areas of chemistry: biochemistry (structure, function and engineering of proteins and nucleic acids), synthetic chemistry (organic and organometallic method development, natural product synthesis, small molecule activation, biomaterials), or materials chemistry (nanomaterials, solar concentrators, heterogeneous catalysis, computational methods). This program also provides workshops that improve students' perspectives on how to conduct research, communicate scientifically, and initiate their career in chemistry. In addition to numerous formal and informal activities for the entire group of REU participants, divisional groups (biochemistry, synthetic chemistry, and materials chemistry) are used to provide additional training that is specific to the research area, including workshops and combined group meetings. Many projects are also collaborative between multiple investigators at WWU, allowing the REU students to interact with more faculty members and get exposure to a broader scope of research topics. The culmination of the summer program is a symposium in which REU participants give poster presentations on their research projects in addition to keynote speakers from each of the three research areas.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.