Research Experiences for Undergraduates
Encyclopedia
Research Experiences for Undergraduates (or REUs) are competitive summer research programs in the United States
for undergraduates studying science, engineering
, or mathematics
. Such programs usually focus on targeting women and underrepresented minorities (e.g., African American
s, Mexican American
s, Native Americans
and mainland Puerto Ricans
). The programs are sponsored by the National Science Foundation
, and are hosted in various universities. They are among the most prestigious summer programs that an undergraduate can participate in. Individual REUs tend to be specialized in a particular field of science. There are REUs in many scientific fields such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, psychology, and computer science.
. As the program is funded by the NSF, undergraduates must be citizens or permanent residents of the US or its possessions. Applications are typically due between February and March. 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.
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
for undergraduates studying science, engineering
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
, or mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
. Such programs usually focus on targeting women and underrepresented minorities (e.g., African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
s, Mexican American
Mexican American
Mexican Americans are Americans of Mexican descent. As of July 2009, Mexican Americans make up 10.3% of the United States' population with over 31,689,000 Americans listed as of Mexican ancestry. Mexican Americans comprise 66% of all Hispanics and Latinos in the United States...
s, Native Americans
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
and mainland Puerto Ricans
Puerto Rican people
A Puerto Rican is a person who was born in Puerto Rico.Puerto Ricans born and raised in the continental United States are also sometimes referred to as Puerto Ricans, although they were not born in Puerto Rico...
). The programs are sponsored by the National Science Foundation
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...
, and are hosted in various universities. They are among the most prestigious summer programs that an undergraduate can participate in. Individual REUs tend to be specialized in a particular field of science. There are REUs in many scientific fields such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, psychology, and computer science.
Applying
REU sites typically consist of ten undergraduates working in the research program of the host institution either in the US or abroad, for example, CERNCERN
The European Organization for Nuclear Research , known as CERN , is an international organization whose purpose is to operate the world's largest particle physics laboratory, which is situated in the northwest suburbs of Geneva on the Franco–Swiss border...
. As the program is funded by the NSF, undergraduates must be citizens or permanent residents of the US or its possessions. Applications are typically due between February and March. 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.
Compensation
Students are generally provided with a modest stipend ($3,000–$5,000 for 10 weeks of work), housing, transportation to and from the site, and often arrangements for food.History
The precursor to the REU program was the NSF-funded URP, which ran through the 1970s. One long-running REU-site in the 1990s that served as a model for other programs was Washington University's Computer Science SURA ProgramWashington University's Computer Science SURA Program
Washington University's Department of Computer Science and Engineering SURA Program served as a model Research Experiences for Undergraduates site for the NSF from 1990-1997 and included many exemplary outcomes, including :* , paper on video on-demand storage servers cited 206 times, Ph.D...
.