REU Site: Interdisciplinary Study of the Politics of Place

该项目由社会、行为和经济科学局(SBE)的本科生研究经验(REU)站点计划资助。这个REU网站项目让学生沉浸在为期10周的暑期研究体验中，在那里他们学习并实践跨学科的方法来研究美国南部的地方政治。该项目积极招募本科生与密西西比大学教职员工一起进行社会科学研究。每个参与者的活动包括：在研究设计、数据收集和数据分析方面提供实践指导的研讨会；接触科学领域的研究生教育机会和职业；与教师导师一起参与研究项目；撰写研究论文；以及向学术和非学术受众展示研究成果。这一计划：(1)为学生提供社会科学培训和技能，以开展能够在本社区产生积极影响的研究；(2)为学生培养当代劳动力所需的研究技能；(3)为学生提供重点和密集的指导，为他们在科学领域的职业生涯做好准备。该计划的预期影响是提高学生的社会科学素养，为他们提供必要的知识和培训，以便使用各种方法进行社会科学研究，并增加在社会科学领域接受研究生教育和专业生涯的学生人数。学生将参加由教师指导的研究项目，重点是了解文化、地点和权力是如何相交的，特别强调如何通过跨学科、多方法论的视角来概念化、操作性和研究这些概念。研究项目的例子包括：(1)研究移民如何融入非传统移民目的地社区的社会政治和经济生活；(2)研究密西西比州的文化、政治和宗教背景如何影响未被充分代表的密西西比州人的健康和福祉；(3)研究食物文化如何用于餐位创造实践和地区认同的演变；(4)探索刑事司法系统中针对不同被告的量刑处方方面的不平等；以及(5)研究在一个地位日益受到审查的时代，群体如何理解他们在美国社会结构中的位置。学生将根据他们的实际兴趣以及他们最感兴趣的具体研究技能来匹配研究项目。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 project is funded from the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Sites program in the Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBE). This REU site project immerses students in a 10-week summer research experience where they learn and put into practice interdisciplinary methods to study the politics of place in the American South. The project actively recruits undergraduate students to conduct social scientific research with the University of Mississippi faculty. Activities for each participant include workshops with practical, hands-on instruction in research design, data collection, and data analysis; exposure to graduate educational opportunities and careers in science; participating in research projects with faculty mentors; writing a research paper; and presenting research findings for academic and non-academic audiences. This program: (1) provides students with the social scientific training and skills to conduct research that can make a positive impact in their own communities; (2) prepares students with the research skills necessary for a contemporary workforce; (3) provides focused and intensive mentoring of students to prepare them for careers in science. The intended impact of this program is to increase students’ social scientific literacy, equip them with the necessary knowledge and training to conduct social scientific research using a variety of methods, and increase the number of students pursuing graduate education and professional careers in the social sciences. Students will participate in faculty-directed research projects that focus on understanding how culture, place, and power intersect, with a special emphasis on how to conceptualize, operationalize, and study these concepts through an interdisciplinary, multi-methodological perspective. Examples of research projects include (1) studying how immigrants are incorporated into the sociopolitical and economic lives of communities that are not traditional migration destinations; (2) examining how the cultural, political, and religious context of Mississippi shapes the health and well-being of underrepresented Mississippians; (3) examining how food culture is used in the practice of placemaking and the evolution of regional identity; (4) exploring inequalities in the criminal justice system with respect to sentencing prescriptions for diverse defendants; and (5) examining how, in an era where status is increasingly scrutinized, groups are making sense of their place within America’s social structure. Students will be matched to research projects based on their substantive interests as well as the specific research skills they are most interested in developing.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.