REU site: REU Molecular Biology and Genetics of Cell Signaling

Cornell University, Ithaca NY

Investigators

Abstract

This REU Site award to Cornell University, located in Ithaca, NY, will support the training of 10 students for 10 weeks during summers of 2017-2019. The broad theme is "Molecular Biology and Genetics of Cell Signaling". While the program is housed in the Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics (MBG), about a third of the 24 participating faculty are members of other departments. The MBG REU program is integrated with the Cornell Summer Institute for Life Science (SILS), the umbrella unit covering research for about 100 Cornell biology majors. In addition to laboratory research itself, the MBG REU program includes weekly talks by faculty on the broad aspects of cell signaling, weekly meetings to discuss what to expect in graduate school, and informal instruction on how to prepare research talks and posters. Among other activities is a popular workshop on responsible conduct of research, attended by some 100 undergrad students. The MBG REU program is explicitly focused on diversity in its broad sense. Students, preferably sophomores or juniors, can apply to the program directly at the website link provided below. Participating students, selected from the application pool by a faculty committee, will come primarily from schools with limited research opportunities. The overarching goal of the program is to allow students to participate directly in cutting edge research in the broad areas of molecular and cell biology, biochemistry, biophysics, developmental biology, or genetics and genomics. Many of the students will present the results of their work at scientific conferences, and all will make presentations in a local poster session and a short talk. A common web-based assessment tool used by all REU Site programs funded by the NSF Division of Biological Infrastructure will be used to determine the effectiveness of the training program. Students will be tracked after the program to determine their career paths. Students will be asked to respond to an automatic email sent via the NSF reporting system. More information about the program is available by visiting https://mbg.cornell.edu/undergraduate/summer-research-experience, or by contacting the PI (Dr. Volker M. Vogt at vmv1@cornell.edu) or the co-PI (Dr. Kelly Liu at jl53@cornell.edu).