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 College of Engineering faculty member(s). 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 their interest to pursue graduate study.

REU experience includes:

• Two 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.
• Skills Workshops and Seminars provided by the College of Engineering faculty to prepare the students for the research experience, and to address organizational and presentation issues.
• Some projects may include 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®.
• Each Faculty Mentor and/or GRA will establish a weekly meeting schedule with their team in which the team leader will present the work planned between meeting periods 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 PowerPoint presentation in which each student participates in some capacity. Report and presentation will include the progress made on the research project. The first biweekly report will include an abstract of the research planned to eb conducted.
• The final week will be devoted to wrapping-up the project and preparing final presentations. Each team will submit a typed Technical Research Paper 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 half-hour PowerPoint presentation, which will be judged by an invited panel of professional engineers and faculty members along with the Technical Research Paper and Display Poster. The judges will select the best project which will be rewarded.
• Students will participate in pre-REU and end-of-REU evaluations.

Post REU duties:

• During the following academic year, each REU participant is required to make one presentation, the report of which will be submitted by their department faculty advisor.
• All UC students will be required to present a Poster at the UC Annual Undergraduate Poster Forum.
• Help will be provided by the Faculty Mentor and the GRA to condense the Technical Research Paper 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. Each participant is required to participate in the post-REU tracking up to five years after their participation.