Research Experiences for Undergraduates

Research Experiences for Undergraduates
Name	Research Experiences for Undergraduates
Abbreviation	REU
Sponsor	National Science Foundation
Established	1987
Country	United States

Research Experiences for Undergraduates Research Experiences for Undergraduates are structured undergraduate research programs that place students in mentored projects at universities, national laboratories, museums, and industry sites. These programs frequently connect participants to faculty from institutions such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, University of California, Berkeley, Harvard University, and Princeton University, and partner sites like Los Alamos National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Smithsonian Institution, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Brookhaven National Laboratory.

Overview

REU programs typically provide short-term immersive research opportunities hosted by institutions such as California Institute of Technology, Columbia University, Yale University, University of Michigan, and University of Texas at Austin. They aim to engage undergraduates from diverse backgrounds including students from Spelman College, Howard University, Hampton University, City College of New York, and Arizona State University. Participants often work on projects linked to faculty awards like the MacArthur Fellowship, the Guggenheim Fellowship, the Pulitzer Prize, the Nobel Prize in Physics, and the Turing Award winners who mentor or coauthor resulting scholarship.

Program Structure and Components

Typical REU components include a mentor-student pairing modeled after training structures at Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, and National Institutes of Health intramural programs. Curricula often integrate seminars referencing foundational works such as publications from Nature (journal), Science (journal), Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Physical Review Letters, and The Astrophysical Journal. Students may present at symposia held at venues like American Physical Society meetings, American Chemical Society conferences, Society for Neuroscience annual meetings, Association for Computing Machinery conferences, and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers workshops.

Eligibility and Application Process

Eligibility criteria often mirror requirements used by institutions including Brown University, Duke University, University of Wisconsin–Madison, University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign, and Ohio State University. Applications typically request transcripts, statements modeled on guidance from Fulbright Program materials, letters of recommendation from faculty associated with Royal Society fellows, and project proposals influenced by frameworks used in European Research Council grants. Selection panels sometimes include representatives from organizations like National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Department of Energy, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, American Association for the Advancement of Science, and Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics.

Impact and Outcomes

Longitudinal studies often trace REU alumni to graduate programs at Cornell University, University of California, San Diego, University of Chicago, Johns Hopkins University, and University of Pennsylvania and to careers at Google, Microsoft, Pfizer, Boeing, and SpaceX. Evaluations reference metrics used by the National Science Foundation and reports citing awardees like the MacArthur Fellows and recipients of the National Medal of Science and the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. Publications resulting from REU projects appear in journals such as Cell (journal), The Lancet, Journal of the American Chemical Society, IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, and Astronomy & Astrophysics.

Funding and Administration

Funding for many REU sites originates from grants administered by the National Science Foundation, sometimes in partnership with agencies like the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Energy, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the Department of Defense. Host institutions manage stipends, travel support, and housing modeled after administrative practices at universities such as University of California, Los Angeles, University of Washington, Texas A&M University, Purdue University, and Michigan State University. Oversight and compliance sometimes reference policies from bodies including the Office of Management and Budget, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, and the Council on Undergraduate Research.

History and Variations

The REU model grew during the late 20th century with precedents in apprenticeship systems linked to institutions like Carnegie Mellon University, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Imperial College London, and École Polytechnique. Variations include discipline-specific sites (for example, computational programs at Los Alamos National Laboratory, marine programs at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and museum-based programs at the American Museum of Natural History), international exchanges connected to Erasmus Programme, and industry internships modeled after placements at IBM, Intel, Amazon (company), and General Electric.

Challenges and Criticisms

Critiques of REU programs cite issues noted by scholars from University of California, Santa Cruz, University of Colorado Boulder, University of Pittsburgh, Rutgers University, and University of Florida including unequal access for students from rural colleges, variability in mentorship quality, and outcomes disparities tracked in reports by National Science Foundation, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, and advocacy groups like Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science. Calls for reform reference policy debates involving United States Congress, federal budget oversight committees, and recommendations from organizations such as the American Council on Education and Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Category:Undergraduate research programs