REU Site: Summer Undergraduate Research in Chemistry at James Madison University: A Regional REU Site that Includes Deaf and Hard of Hearing Participants

James Madison University, Harrisonburg VA

Investigators

Abstract

This award from the Division of Chemistry (CHE) supports the renewal of a Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) site at James Madison University (JMU) for the summers of 2008-2010. Funding for a Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) component has also been awarded which will incorporate one high school teacher, who is either Deaf or teaches Deaf students, and two high school students into the program each summer. The RET component is supported by the Office of Multidisciplinary Activities (OMA) within the Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS) Directorate. This REU/RET site will be managed by Daniel Downey and Gina MacDonald both from the Department of Chemistry at JMU. This REU site will bring twelve undergraduate students to campus for a ten-week period each summer to conduct research in chemistry. Eight students will be supported by NSF and two will be supported with institutional funds. The research opportunities available to the students span a wide range of chemical areas including organic, inorganic, biochemistry, organometallic syntheses with compound characterization, environmental analytical chemistry, nuclear chemistry, and physical chemistry. Two outside faculty mentors will also join the site each summer. These mentors will be provided with their own laboratory space while they are at JMU and will have the opportunity to either pursue their own research projects or work in conjunction with a faculty member at JMU. Recruitment for this site targets smaller mid-Atlantic regional schools and will specifically recruit Deaf and hard of hearing students as an integral part of the summer program through outreach to the Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind (VSDB), the Model Secondary School for the Deaf (MSSD), Rochester Institute of Technology, and Gallaudet University. To extend opportunities for the Deaf, two student sign-voice interpreters will assist communication between the hearing/Deaf students/faculty and research novel fingerspelled words containing unfamiliar grapheme combinations and phonetic clusters.