Research Experiences for Undergraduates
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Research Experiences for Undergraduates (or REUs) are competitive summer research programs in the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
for undergraduates studying science,
engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...
, or
mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...
. The programs are sponsored by the
National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National I ...
, and are hosted in various universities. REUs tend to be specialized in a particular field of science. There are REUs in many scientific fields such as mathematics, physics, chemistry,
geology Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ear ...
, biology, psychology, and computer science. There are two kinds of REU experiences: REU individual experiences (funded by NSF via their REU Supplements category of grant supplements) and REU sites (funded by NSF via their REU Sites category of grant proposals).


How students apply to participate

REU sites typically consist of ten undergraduates working in the research program of the host institution either in the US or abroad, for example,
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. As the program is funded by the NSF, undergraduates must be citizens or permanent residents of the US or its possessions to be eligible for funding. However, some REU sites accept "self-funder" international students. Applications are typically due between February and the end of April. The length of the application ranges from a single letter of reference without supporting materials all the way up to something comparable to a college admissions application. The programs generally require between one and three letters of reference, a transcript, 0-2 essays, a letter of interest, a resume, a biographical form, or some combination thereof. Although all eligible students are encouraged to apply, there is an emphasis on including populations underrepresented in science—women, underrepresented minorities, and persons with disabilities. REU individual experiences typically consist of one undergraduate student, or two undergraduate students working together. Sometimes these undergraduates work with a larger research team that includes graduate students. These REU experiences take place at the student's current university, and can last anywhere from a few weeks to an entire year. The application process varies by the particular faculty member who plans to work with these students.


Compensation

Students participating in REU sites are generally provided with a modest stipend ($4,000–$6,000 for 10 weeks of work), housing, transportation to and from the site, and often arrangements for food. REU individual experiences pay (stipends or on an hourly basis) at about the same payrate as REU sites.


History

Research grants which included
undergraduate research Undergraduate research is often described as the exploration of a specific research topic by an undergraduate student that seeks to make an original contribution to the disciplinIt is a fairly recent concept in the academic community, with roots i ...
assistants have been funded from the very beginning of the NSF. But in 1958, the NSF established the Undergraduate Research Participation Program, and funding for that program continued until FY 1982, when it was abolished in the Reagan Administration cuts of NSF education funding. A program to enhance research experiences for undergraduates was reestablished in FY 1987 with the title Research Experiences for Undergraduates. One long-running REU-site in the 1990s was
Washington University's Computer Science SURA Program Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
.


Further reading

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External links


Official website

Directory of active REU sites

REU-in-a-Box: Expanding the Pool of Computing Researchers

Distributed Research Experiences for Undergraduates
{{authority control Research institutes in the United States Undergraduate education in the United States