GOALS, EXPERIENCES PROVIDED, AND PERFORMANCE EXPECTATIONS

Goals of the REU Site are three-fold:

• Participating REU students are expected to fully develop and bring to a conclusion a pilot project, under the guidance of a graduate student and one CEE faculty. We expect to educate, cultivate, and facilitate the research capabilities of participating undergraduate student by exploring the scientific method of inquiry and the critical research skills that engineers use to solve open-ended real-world problems.
• The participating students will develop a well-rounded research experience, including research and professional training, dealing with organization, conduction and presentation of research.
• To expose undergraduate students to challenging and exciting research projects, providing them with a glimpse of what is graduate work in academia and possibly increasing the retention rate in graduate school.

REU experience includes:

• Three undergraduate students working as a team on one project for eight summer weeks. A Faculty Mentor and graduate research assistant (GRA) will guide each research team on a daily basis.
• Seminars provided by the CEE department to prepare the students for the research experience, and to address organizational and presentation issues.
• Students participating in field trips.
• Weekly progress meetings will ensure a steady progress of the research effort and help keep the students focused and motivated.
• Social events during and after the end of the program.
• Upon returning to their schools, the students will be expected to prepare at least one presentation about the REU project in their school of origin. A paper for presentation at a regional/national education or technical conference may also be a final product for outstanding REU projects..
• The REU students' career will be tracked through a dedicated Website.

Summer REU duties are outlined below.These activities are spread across the eight summer weeks, working full time (8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.) side by side with a graduate research assistant and a faculty member. More specifically:

• In each team, one student will act as team leader on a weekly rotating basis.
• Each student will be responsible for reflecting on weekly activities in an e-log book using Blackboard®.
• Every morning at 8:00 a.m. the research Faculty Mentor and/or GRA will hold a meeting of their team in which the team leader will present the work planned for the day and any problems encountered.
• On the third day each team will be required to present their goals and objectives, research tasks, and time schedule for their project.
• Second through seventh weeks will be devoted to research.
• Every alternate Friday afternoon will be devoted to bi-weekly presentations. Each team will submit a written report and give a Power Point presentation in which each student participates in some capacity. Report and presentation will include the progress made on the research project.
• The final week will be devoted to wrapping-up the project and preparing final presentations. Each team will submit a typed Technical Report two days prior to the last day. In addition, each team will prepare a Display Poster and a PowerPoint Presentation.
• On the last day each team will give a one-hour PowerPoint presentation, which will be judged by an invited panel of 3 professional engineers along with the Technical Report and Display Poster. The judges will award the best project.
• Students will participate in pre-REU and end-of-REU evaluations.

Post REU duties

• Upon returning to their home institution, each REU participant is required to make one presentation, the report of which will be submitted by their home-school faculty advisor.
• Help will be provided to condense the Technical Report into technical papers to present at national/regional conferences, journals or student paper competitions. Limited funding for travel to such conferences is available.
• A website will be made available for post-REU feedback, and to keep track of all REU students' careers.