Program Overview

Hands-on and interdisciplinary research experience at the interface of nanotechnology and biomedicine will bring participants recruited nationally to the University of Georgia campus for 10 weeks in the summer.

This is a NSF funded Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program at the College of Engineering of University of Georgia.

The REU program will provide an interdisciplinary research experience at the interface of nanotechnology and biomedicine to undergraduate students from other institutions, leveraging the diverse interdisciplinary expertise, resources, and training opportunities in this area at University of Georgia (UGA).

Students will participate in interdisciplinary research projects that apply nanotechnology to specific biomedical questions. Each REU student will be co-mentored by paired faculty from the nanotechnology and biomedical disciplines on a collaborative research project. Individual posters will be completed, and there will be a poster session at the conclusion of the 10-week program. Work with the faculty mentors can continue during the coming academic year and eventually result in a publishable work.

In addition to a total-immersion, hands-on research experience, students will participate in enriching activities that will include an ethics-in-science workshop; weekly lunch presentations on the opportunities in interdisciplinary research, and what to expect in graduate school; a career workshop; research seminars; tours to UGA research facilities; participation in a regional summer symposium in nanotechnology and biomedicine; and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education.

Weekly seminars are held with the potential faculty mentors for the individual lab section of the program giving a brief review of their work. From these talks the participants will request the areas they would like to do research in during the individual portion of the program.

Benefits.

Each participant will receive a $6,000 stipend, a free meal plan, travel money up to the program limit, a dorm room co-occupied with a REU roommate, financial support to attend BMES annual meeting, free transportation on campus.

Note: It is the responsibility of the individual student to have their own health insurance. Neither UGA nor NSF provides insurance for participants in the REU program.

 

Program activities.

Research. Participating students’ daily activity will be research at the interface of nanotechnology and biomedical sciences in hosting labs. In addition to research, the program has a variety of career enriching activities through the summer. Please refer to the program calendar for details. A brief introduction of them are listed below.

Orientation & Kickoff BBQ. Each summer’s program will begin with an orientation session to introduce students and mentors, communicate the vision of the program, review program activities and expectations, and orient students with respect to the UGA campus and the adjacent city of Athens. This orientation will be followed by a barbecue to allow students to meet other students, participating faculty and other UGA researchers.

Lab group meetings. Students will participate in the weekly meetings of their host labs to exchange scientific ideas and discuss literature.

Career-oriented field trip.  One or more field trips to will be conducted each year to allow participants speak with scientists and view facilities at non-academic intuitions such as the Centers for Disease Control.

Social field trip. An optional day-trip to the Georgia Aquarium is tentatively scheduled.

Professional development sessions. Weekly meetings with lunches provided, students will hear from faculty, previous REU students, industry partners, university administrators on how to find funding and apply for graduate school, how to become a faculty, how to present posters and oral talks, etc.

Research symposium. The program will have a full-day research symposium for oral presentations, hosted by the College of Engineering at University of Georgia. This research symposium will be organized and presented by REU students.

Closing symposium. The program will be capped with a half-day symposium for poster session. Students will present their research to an audience of faculty, mentors and each other in the form of a poster session. This symposium will be a joint session by other REU programs on campus.

Follow through. Students are encouraged to complete their research experience by co-authoring scientific papers and conference presentations with researchers from their host labs. The program will promote this follow through by facilitating students and host labs as they continue their interactions beyond the duration of the program. The program will sponsor REU participants to a national conference to present their summer research. The conference is BMES annual meeting. This is a unique conference designed specifically for biomedical engineering students (undergraduate, graduate and post-doctorates) and working professionals. The conference provides a wealth of career information and networking opportunities.  Students and recent graduates will learn about careers from alumni working in industry, academia, government, law and medicine.  Attendees will learn about full-time opportunities and current students can hear about intern/coop programs.  Students with research projects will present their work in the poster session.

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