REU Site: Interdisciplinary undergraduate research projects based in the New Jersey Pinelands

Rutgers University Camden, Camden NJ

Investigators

Abstract

This award is funded by the Divisions of Biological Infrastructure and Chemistry at NSF. The REU Site program at Rutgers University Camden campus will provide research internship for ten undergraduate students for ten weeks each summer. The students will work in close collaboration with their faculty mentors on independent research projects relevant to the New Jersey Pinelands, and the students will have the opportunity in the first two weeks of the program to use the lab facilities and to reside at the Pinelands Field station. The NJ Pinelands is a unique ecosystem with approximately 1.1 million acres, which has been given International Biosphere status. The goal of the program is to provide biology and chemistry undergraduate students with the opportunity to experience cutting-edge research over a wide range of various disciplines (Biology, Chemistry and Physics) and emphases, in order to broaden students' perspectives on a research career in the sciences. This goal will be accomplished via interdisciplinary mentoring, the opportunity to work on independent research projects from experimental design to data collection and analysis, and via different workshops, for example, scientific writing for peer-reviewed journals, scientific ethics, women in sciences and environmental justice. Students who are admitted to the program will be supplied with a stipend, housing, meals and airfare. Under-represented minorities and students from colleges with limited research opportunities are particularly encouraged to apply. More information is available by contacting Heike Bucking at bucking@camden.rutgers.edu, or by visiting http://reu-pinelands.camden.rutgers.edu/index.html.