REU Site: SURFO-Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships in Oceanography

University Of Rhode Island, Kingston RI

Investigators

Abstract

The University of Rhode Island (URI) Graduate School of Oceanography (GSO) will operate the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships in Oceanography (SURFO) program during the summers of 2020 and 2021. Each summer, twelve undergraduates will participate in authentic Oceanography research through a 10-week research experience designed for science, math and engineering students. A SURFO's research may include but is not limited to laboratory work, field work, data analysis, instrumentation development, and dynamical modeling. SURFO students develop an individual research topic under the mentorship of a URI faculty member or Marine Research Scientist and carry out a program of research from proposal stage, to its conduct and analysis, and concluding with the dissemination of their results in an oral presentation and a written document in either journal manuscript or NSF Graduate Fellowship Proposal format. SURFO participants are provided a monetary stipend, summer housing, and travel between their home and GSO. Additionally, SURFOs participate in professional development activities to prepare them for graduate school research in Oceanography and the sciences in general. The SURFO program focuses on quantitative aspects of oceanography (e.g., physical oceanography, geophysical fluid dynamics, marine geophysics, population genetics and biodiversity, biogeochemical cycling, quantitative ecology), which closely parallel the strengths of the institution. The primary undergraduate population targeted by the program includes students from various disciplines, but with strong backgrounds in mathematics, physics, biology, chemistry, geology, computer science, and engineering. Students from underrepresented groups in science and engineering (minority and first-generation college) and students with limited exposure to oceanographic research at their home institutions are highly sought. 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.