REUs Galore!
We primed the pump with our recent Howard Hughes Grant.  Next, federal agencies, including the National Science Foundation, changed their focus toward a greater emphasis on undergraduate education.  Now, Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REUs) are becoming a regular feature of undergraduate education.  The incorporation of more hands-on experience in the curriculum is in response to assertions that undergraduates who participate in research do better in future endeavors.  What is your opinion of this change?
Here at UMass the REUs are administered by the Biology Graduate Programs; we have a Plant Biology REU, a Neuroscience REU, and a BioTechnology REU.  A model for the administration of REUs was developed during our original Howard Hughes-funded REU (1996-2000).  That model is being replicated and elaborated by the new REUs.
In a typical REU experience, undergraduate participants work in a faculty member's lab for a summer or semester.  The student carries out a research project and periodically meets with other members of the REU group to discuss the experience.  Several presentations by the student are included.  The first deals with the research project that is planned, the next presentation focuses on work that is being done, and the last deals with what has been accomplished.  On the right, undergraduate Carolyn Herzig explains her project poster to another undergraduate at a BioTech REU symposium held during the summer of 2000.  The REU experience will either confirm a student's enthusiasm about a discipline or convince him/her to look for a another career.
Many students must work during the summer or a school semester.  The REUs provide stipends and thus obviate semester and summer jobs.  As an additional way of removing barriers to participation, travel expenses to and from a home location are also covered.
When we were first awarded the Howard Hughes grant, the University made a commitment to find ways to support future REU programs through local funding.  Currently, the BioTechnology REU is being funded cooperatively with BayState Medical Center, which sees the involvement of undergraduates in laboratory research as an important way of nurturing potential health science workers.