REU Site: Intensive Mentored Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) in Psychology and Neuroscience at an Urban Public College

Cuny Brooklyn College, Brooklyn NY

Investigators

Abstract

This project is funded from the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Sites program in the SBE Directorate. It has both scientific and societal benefits, and integrates research and education. The Brooklyn College (BC) of the City University of New York REU program aims to advance discovery for the scientific and broader communities while promoting mentoring, learning, and professional development by: (1) immersing students from underrepresented groups (primarily women, racial minorities, first-generation college students) in innovative research in psychology and neuroscience; (2) guiding students through the scientific process, from generation of research questions to communication of results; (3) engaging students in didactics that highlight the relevance and applied value of their laboratory work; (4) enhancing students' competitiveness for graduate school and professional positions; and (5) boosting the research competence of local middle and high school teachers with downstream positive learning effects for their students. This REU program also enables faculty members to supervise talented individuals who might otherwise miss out on mentored laboratory and professional development opportunities, and contributes to the training and advancement of the next generation of scientists. The central (scientific) component of this REU program is a semester-long laboratory immersion, under the supervision of Psychology, Biology, and Chemistry Department faculty mentors, which results in a completed research project. We emphasize the generation of high quality research and integration of psychological and neuroscientific theory with the design, execution, and interpretation of data. We select ten students annually for mentored research projects, especially undergraduates from ethnic-minority serving, public two-year and four-year institutions in the New York metropolitan area. Students also attend weekly didactics: a seminar that dually focuses on psychology and neuroscience principles/research methods and professional issues/career development; a journal club that familiarizes students with scientific literature through learning to select, read, critically analyze, and present summaries of original research papers; and a statistical methods seminar that emphasizes data analysis, statistical reasoning, and presentation of research findings in academic contexts. Given the importance of adhering to ethical norms in research, our students also undergo an intensive scientific ethics training. As a capstone experience, students present a poster at the BC Science Research Day, where they compete for awards based on the quality of their work and ability to communicate their findings. Many of our students work with their mentors to publish their results in peer-reviewed journals. In addition, the project has a RET (Research Experiences for Teachers) component, which provides local middle and high school teachers with coursework in research methods, mentored laboratory experience, and professional development opportunities to enhance their research competencies and raise the level of science education in local middle schools and high schools. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.