REU Site: Biogeochemical Educational Experiences-South Africa

University Of Tennessee Knoxville, Knoxville TN

Investigators

Abstract

This is a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Site, a summer program with an international venue of South Africa. The purpose of this project is to recruit and encourage the retention of underrepresented undergraduates within the United States (and, concomitantly, South Africa) in the fields of Earth and Biological Sciences, Environmental Sciences, and Engineering. The project will address the critical need to engage underrepresented minority students in science in the U.S. It involves immersion of undergraduate students in a cultural, scientific, and interdisciplinary atmosphere that relies on teamwork. The students will expand their knowledge base and their field and laboratory skills. They will gain an appreciation for interdisciplinary research in biogeochemistry of the subsurface, develop international networks among themselves and with established scientists, give presentations at local and national scientific meetings, and possibly choose to continue their careers in science. Seven underrepresented undergraduate students with previous formal education in geoscience, chemistry, microbiology, and/or engineering will spend seven weeks during the summer doing hands-on, hypothesis-driven research projects with several international multidisciplinary mentors. The students will experience interdisciplinary research and learn first-hand how that research is accomplished in the field: at South African mines, tailing ponds, and hotsprings. Facilities include the existing NSF-field laboratory near several mines at Glenharvie, South Africa, and the laboratories at UOFS. The student education and research program will include brief general lecture/laboratory sessions followed by mini-group tutorial/laboratory sessions covering a range of topics within the interdisciplinary LExEn research program. During this research experience, the students will perform experiments to test their research hypotheses. Mentors will provide guidance and instruction as they work side by side with the students. This project is jointly funded by the Division of Earth Sciences and the Office of International Sciences and Engineering.