REU Site: CSHL NSF-REU Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Summer Undergraduate Program

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spg Hbr NY

Investigators

Abstract

A Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Sites award has been made to Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) that will provide research training for 8 students, for 10 weeks during the summers of 2012- 2014. The program trains participants on the present and growing need to integrate biological research with sophisticated computational tools and techniques. CSHL has over 40 faculty members, including members of a newly established Quantitative Biology Department, who will serve as bioinformatics and computational biology mentors in fields ranging from plant biology to machine learning for biology. Through this NSF-REU support, students are afforded the opportunity to conduct full-time research in an appropriately matched lab based on mutual interests and goals. CSHL REU participants have access to individual and shared laboratory facilities such as flow cytometry, high throughput sequencing and analysis, imaging, and proteomics facilities. Participants attend multiple seminars and workshops, such as the responsible conduct in research, professional communication skills, the graduate school application process, and introduction to science careers. REU participants also are invited to attend the CSHL summer courses or meetings, which cover a range of topics such as Computational Neuroscience and Single Cell Analysis. All students are housed on campus within walking distance of their laboratories and the CSHL cafeteria, where they receive the majority of their meals. The multilayer recruitment effort consists of both traditional and digital mailings to potential students and their professors, as well as recruitment visits to universities throughout the country. Students are selected based on academic record, motivation for the proposed program of study, and potential as future researchers. Alumni successes are monitored to determine their continued interest in their academic field of study, their career paths, and the long-term impact of their research experience. Information about the program will be assessed using faculty and student evaluations, as well as the use of an REU common assessment tool. More information is available by visiting http://www.cshl.edu/education/urp/nsf-sponsored-reu-in-bioinformatics-and-computational-biology, or by contacting the PI (Dr. Zachary Lippman at lippman@cshl.edu) or the co-PI (Dr. Doreen Ware at ware@cshl.edu).