REU Site: Integrated Experimental and Computational REU Site at Northern Illinois University

Northern Illinois University, Dekalb IL

Investigators

Abstract

Professors Ralph Wheeler, James Horn, and colleagues at Northern Illinois University host the REU Site: Integrated Experimental and Computational REU Site at Northern Illinois University. Funded by the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Sites Program of the Division of Chemistry, the site provides a diverse group of eight STEM undergraduates each year with authentic, meaningful, ten-week, summer research experiences in chemistry and/or biochemistry. Northern Illinois University's (NIU's) model of undergraduate research builds research teams where students and student-faculty pairs are recruited from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMPs), and Primarily Undergraduate Institutions (PUIs) with limited research opportunities. Each REU project is supplemented with computational components to expand the students' experience. REU students have research experiences within broad scientific themes such as nanotechnology, homeland security, drug design, energy research, and chemical biology. Students are trained in instrumentation to build new skills to complement their experimental research. In addition, three of the eight students each year work with two faculty mentors in the laboratory (home institution and NIU) and consult with a computational faculty liaison from NIU. The program tests the hypothesis that strong financial and infrastructure support of research collaborations invigorate faculty from PUIs who in turn, directly impact students and learning environments at their home institutions. The program aims to establish meaningful, year round, long-term research collaborations. The model is envisioned to be self-perpetuating because the collaborations ultimately mature to independent funding, and are replaced by new collaborations between the host institution and new participants. The activities support the intent of the REU program to use meaningful research experiences to attract and retain the nation's diverse student talent pool. The program enhances and diversifies the US workforce by adding experts in the fields of chemistry and biochemistry.