REU Site: Molecular Interactions Virtual REU

这项本科生研究经验（REU）网站奖授予明尼苏达大学荷梅尔研究所，该研究所与纽约州立大学科尔特兰学院和伊萨卡学院合作，将在2021年夏季支持10名学生进行12周的虚拟研究培训和专业发展。在这个完全在线的项目中，学生们作为同行在线社区的一部分，参与指导的独立研究，分析和预测生物分子的结构和功能之间的关系。为了促进社区和加强沟通技巧，学生还将参加每周的非正式社交活动，专业发展活动，并在夏季结束时举行面对面的顶点研究研讨会。这种虚拟形式固有的灵活性使该项目广泛地适用于各种各样的学生，包括那些无法访问现场REU项目的学生。这个项目的参与者将学习分子相互作用，并在一个支持和灵活的环境中探索结构-功能关系，由教师和同伴导师团队指导。暑期研修生的独立研究旨在加深我们对酶的功能、初级和次级代谢的理解，并可能有助于为生物合成途径工程的改进提供基础。通过将相关和独立的研究项目与专业发展和社区建设相结合，该计划旨在为学术生涯早期的不同学生群体提供积极，真实的研究体验。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 Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) site award to the Hormel Institute at the University of Minnesota in collaboration with the State University of New York College at Cortland and Ithaca College, will support 10 students for 12 weeks of virtual research training and professional development during the summer of 2021. In this fully online program, students take part in guided independent research as part of an online community of peers to analyze and predict the relationship between structure and function in biomolecules. To foster community and to strengthen communication skills, students will also participate in weekly informal social events, professional development activities, and meet for an in-person capstone research symposium at the end of the summer. The inherent flexibility of this virtual format make this program broadly accessible to a wide variety of students, including those who would not otherwise be able to access on-site REU programs. Participants in this program will learn about molecular interactions and explore structure-function relationships in an environment that is supportive and flexible, guided by a team of faculty and peer mentors. The independent research conducted by the summer research students aims to advance our understanding of enzyme function, primary and secondary metabolism, and may help to provide foundations for improvements in biosynthetic pathway engineering. By pairing relevant and independent research projects with professional development and community building, this program seeks to provide a positive, authentic research experience to a diverse group of students early in their academic careers.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.