REU Site: Integrative Computational Education and Research Traineeship

University Of Texas At Austin, Austin TX

Investigators

Abstract

The Integrative Computational Education and Research Traineeship(ICERT) REU objectives are to increase the number of STEM majors completing the baccalaureate with a scientific computation emphasis and increase the number of participants entering a graduate program with a scientific computation emphasis. The ICERT attracts a diverse pool of students to careers in computational science and engineering and prepares them to be able to turn discoveries into innovations for societal good. The ICERT REU adopts training practices from the successful NSF Integrated Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) to provide participants with the computational, problem-solving, creativity, and communication skills needed to be future global leaders in transformational science and engineering research. The project activities include an introductory week-long summer institute on scientific computation, a research project or assignment in an academic department research group, a mentor institute for research group graduate students designated as mentor coaches, applications seminars demonstrating current computational research enabled by the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) cyberinfrastructure, seminars on communicating science, seminars on turning discoveries into innovations that benefit society, mentoring in a triad of faculty/graduate mentor/undergraduate proteìgeì, and a final presentation. The impact will be increased numbers of students in multiple science and engineering domains prepared to conduct computational research that will lead to discoveries and innovations that stimulate economies and improve the quality of life. The ICERT will broaden the participation of undergraduate underrepresented populations in multiple computational science and engineering domains. Graduate students participating in the mentoring triad will gain experience mentoring, teaching and training students from underrepresented populations, preparing them for careers as faculty who can involve underrepresented undergraduate and graduate students in the integration of research and education.