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Chapter 8
Summer International REU Program in the United Kingdom Terence A Nile1 and Anne G. Glenn*,2 1Department
of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of North Carolina Greensboro, Greensboro, North Carolina 27402, United States 2Department of Chemistry, Guilford College, 5800 W. Friendly Avenue, Greensboro, North Carolina 27410, United States *E-mail:
[email protected].
In this chapter we discuss our international summer undergraduate research in the United Kingdom, which was supported by the National Science Foundation for seven of the nine years. We describe the program’s history and details, the importance of international research, student activities, recruiting, issues unique to an international program and its outcomes. We also offer some advice we think is important to a successful international research program.
Program History From 2010 to 2016, The University of North Carolina Greensboro (UNCG) sponsored a NSF-funded summer research program in chemistry for undergraduates in the United Kingdom. During the summers of 2010 through 2013 the University of Bristol hosted students from the schools in the central North Carolina Piedmont Education and Research Consortium (PERC) in a program funded by NSF’s International Research Experiences for Undergraduates program, IRES. PERC is a diverse group of seven colleges and universities within 30 miles of Greensboro, NC which includes both UNC-Greensboro and Guilford College. The program was continued during the summers of 2014 to 2016 as an REU site. As an REU site, the program expanded to include an additional research host, the University of Bath in the UK, and to include students from colleges and universities nationwide, focusing primarily on those students from colleges and universities in the southeast. © 2018 American Chemical Society Griep and Watkins; Best Practices for Chemistry REU Programs ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2018.
The international research program began as the brainchild of Dr. Nile during his research leave at the University of Bristol during 2004-2005 academic year. While in Bristol he collaborated with Professor Paul Pringle of the University of Bristol in the area of synthetic organic and organometallic chemistry. As a UK native who has worked a UNC-Greensboro for over 30 years teaching chemistry and mentoring research with undergraduates, Dr. Nile realized that he could provide chemistry students with the opportunity to do cutting edge research at a first-class university while also giving them the opportunity to study abroad. During the summers of 2009 and 2010, Dr. Nile returned to the UK and brought four self-funded students to do research at the University of Bristol. These trips provided the proof-of-concept for the successful proposal to the IRES program. After 4 years of success with a total of 21 students doing research at the University of Bristol, the program was renewed as a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) and expanded to include both the University of Bristol and the University of Bath. The REU program funded a total of 24 students over the three summers. An additional four students also participated in various years, using alternate funding sources: paying their own way, or through the Gilman Scholarship program (only open to students eligible for Pell Grants) and/or by receiving grants from various sources such as the UNCG Honors Program or the UNCG Global Undergraduate Research and Creativity Assistantship Program and the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UNCG. One of the key factors to the success of the program was the personal relationship that Professor Nile had developed with the researchers at the universities in the UK. This ground level, faculty-to-faculty approach to developing research connections has had more success than essentially “cold calling” an international university to see if they would be willing to host research students.
Why an International Program? Increasingly important in today’s global society is international competence and global awareness. In 2003, the Strategic Task Force on Education Abroad reported: “We strongly believe that the events of September 11, 2001, constituted a wake-up call—a warning that America’s ignorance of the world is now a national liability” (1), a statement that is as true today as it was in immediate post-9/11 America. A 2013 study by the US technology consulting firm Booz, Allen, Hamilton found there was real value for businesses in employees who could work effectively with individuals from different cultural backgrounds (2). Classroom experience can provide, to some extent, the theoretical underpinnings of the educational experience, but the most effective way to engage students is provide them the opportunity to work and study abroad. Studies have shown that the study abroad experience is the “defining moment of a young person’s life” (3). Of particular importance to the scientific community is the ability to work on diverse teams, and studying abroad enhances the necessary transferable skills and mindsets that enable graduates to acclimate in today’s constantly changing global workplace: interpersonal, intercultural, personal and social skills. A 2014 paper describing study abroad as a “career booster” highlighted the importance of 108 Griep and Watkins; Best Practices for Chemistry REU Programs ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2018.
students being able to demonstrate and describe the skills gained through study abroad to their future employers (4) and the PIs and research mentors integrate developing these skills into the program. UNCG has promoted study abroad for over 20 years (5). They have had over 2,000 students go abroad on semester and yearlong exchanges and more recently have developed a collection of shorter faculty-led programs that incorporate work placements and service learning components. Many of our students are first generation college students and affordability plays an important role in designing our programs. UNCG can boast that ca. 24% of their students who study abroad are students of color. Crucial to our success was been extensive student orientation (through pre-departure preparations and reentry workshops) (6). Guilford College also has a strong study abroad program, though on much smaller scale, including a program in northern Italy ranked as one of the 50 best study abroad programs in the US (7).
Program Details All research takes place at the University of Bristol and the University of Bath in western England. The University of Bristol, established in 1876 and one of the top five universities in England, is located the urban center of Bristol. The University of Bath is located on the edge of the popular tourist attraction of Bath, a 15-minute train ride from Bristol. Established in 1966, the University of Bath historically had a focus on engineering and technical areas. Bristol and Bath are both moderately sized and safe cities with many cultural and educational attractions. The chemistry departments at both institutions are PhD granting and are housed in well-equipped modern laboratories that are more than adequate for the research projects. In addition, there are several internationally recognized centers that provide cutting edge experiences for our students, many in areas not available at their home institutions. Faculty from the centers described below supervise the summer research students: The Bristol Centre for Organometallic Catalysis builds together a cross-disciplinary grouping whose objective is to innovate in the field of homogeneous catalysis. Homogeneous catalysis is an elegant method of chemical synthesis and provides new products and processes as well as efficient and clean solutions to many problems in the petrochemical, pharmaceutical and agrochemical industries. The Centre provides a forum for new ideas by organizing workshops and invited lectures on homogeneous catalysis by world experts from academia and industry. These activities bring industrial catalysis chemists into regular contact with staff at the University and consequently foster collaboration. The major objective of the Centre is to promote synergy in catalysis research. Organometallic catalysis is a fundamental academic discipline as well as a core industrial technology and as such is pursued in university and industrial laboratories with equal vigor. The Centre for Sustainable Chemical Technologies (University of Bath) was established in 2008 and brings together academic expertise from the University of Bath with international industrial, academic and stakeholder partners to carry out research, training and outreach in 109 Griep and Watkins; Best Practices for Chemistry REU Programs ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2018.
sustainable chemical technologies. In less than two years, the Centre attracted nearly 20 million pounds in funding for its activities and has rapidly become an important hub for sustainable chemistry in the UK. The Universities of Bristol and Bath represent two of the three universities that have formed a Strategic Alliance for Catalysis (the third being the University of Cardiff in Wales). This alliance provides leadership to the national academic catalysis community. It will develop the Centres as a “bridge” from the knowledge base of the national academic community to the national industrial capability in catalysis. The goals are to share equipment, widen the pool of research experiences available to students, encourage faculty collaboration and the preparation of joint grant applications. The program pays student airfares as well as for accommodations in the UK and a $4000 stipend. In addition, each of the research mentors in the UK receives $1000 per student for supplies. All participants take UNCG’s CHE 555 Organometallics course on-line as part of the pre-departure program and receive two credits for that course from UNCG at no cost. While in the UK, students work a 40-hour week in the research mentors’ lab for 9 weeks. They also have the option to submit a report on their work in order to receive up 6 credits from UNCG for research, once again, at no cost to the participant.
Student Activities During Program Research has shown that it is the student-faculty interaction of the research project that plays a key role in enhancing student confidence (8–11), student retention, and academic growth (12–14). To help facilitate a productive research experience, we ask the faculty mentors to communicate with the participants when they are selected in early February as part of the pre-departure program. The students begin learning about their research projects and asking questions well before the start of the program in mid-June. Dr. Nile and Dr. Glenn are available to answer any questions or concerns the mentors have prior to the program. They also meet with the research mentors as a group in Bristol and Bath at the beginning of the program, and have an online meeting with mentors after the program to get feedback on how to improve the experience for both students and mentors. The importance of the formation of community between participants within a REU cohort has yet to be objectively assessed but it has been suggested as a critical component to the success of a program. During the symposium “Successful REU Programs” at the ACS National Meeting in March 2016, Dr. Stephanie Poland, an alumna of the REU program at Texas A&M University and now a professor at Rose Hulman Institute of Technology (a PUI), spoke about the importance of what happens outside the lab in an REU program as well as in the lab. While she discussed the value of being totally immersed in a research project for an extended period, she also emphasized the value of the networking between participants that takes place during social interactions outside the lab. She cautioned against being in lab too much, encouraging students to work hard in the lab during normal working hours, but then to take time outside to get to know the other participants 110 Griep and Watkins; Best Practices for Chemistry REU Programs ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2018.
and “learn about the place you’re in” (15). The other alumni presenters in the symposium reiterated the importance of the social interaction of the cohort during the panel discussion. We wholeheartedly agree with these observations based on our experience with the students in the IRES and REU programs. Thus, as part of our program, we developed activities to bring the entire group of students together virtually before the REU, at the beginning of the REU, at regular intervals over the summer, at the conclusion of the program and afterward. The pre-departure sessions are conducted using virtual classrooms in the course management system Canvas, which is used at both UNCG and Guilford College. Dr. Nile has used other course management systems to present several courses online to UNCG students while in the UK. In the pre-departure program, we begin to teach students how to read, understand and summarize primary research articles, use library resources and how to safely process samples. As part of this training, students engage in ethics in research discussions, focused on topics such as how authorship is determined, proper handling and disposal of chemicals and others that help students understand the ethical issues involved in the development and application of scientific knowledge. In addition, we lead sessions that address the following topics: the nature of research, formulating a research hypothesis, laboratory safety and keeping a laboratory notebook. The pre-departure training also includes material on organometallic chemistry and catalysis through the course CHE 555 in order to introduce participants to the subject of much of the research in Bristol and Bath. Other subjects discussed in the pre-departure program include general information about preparing for study abroad and specific information about life in the UK. These activities take place at least weekly beginning in mid-May, with a more intensive daily session the week prior to departure in mid-June that ensures the students are prepared to get the most out of their research time in the UK. To facilitate interactions between participants and provide opportunities for informal international contacts, students are housed together in UK university residence halls or apartments used both by visitors and British and international summer students. Transportation within and between each city is excellent. The two cities are only 10-15 minutes apart by trains that run every 10 minutes between 6 am and midnight. Bristol International Airport has non-stop service to many destinations in the rest of Europe. There is frequent train and bus service to London and all other major UK cities. The program is run as part of the UNCG Study Abroad Program (SAP). The SAP requires thorough pre- and post-departure procedures for both students and faculty leaders. UNCG’s IPC (International Programs Center) also provides extensive emergency US and UK support for students and faculty during the program (5, 6). Once students are selected, the Dr. Nile, Dr. Glenn and UNCG’s IPC work with students to obtain passports and visas. Woven into the online training period described above are activities of the official pre-departure preparation through the IPC. Following this stateside orientation to research and study abroad experiences, the students fly to the UK arriving early on a Saturday and the first two days on site are devoted to an orientation to the UK, the universities and a social to introduce the UK mentors and their research groups. Students transition into their UK mentor’s 111 Griep and Watkins; Best Practices for Chemistry REU Programs ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2018.
laboratory and begin their projects the Monday after arrival, which ensures a full summer of research. In order to facilitate a connection between the participants at the University of Bristol and those at the University of Bath, all student participants meet together once a week, alternating between Bristol and Bath. Two of the research mentors, Dr. Paul Pringle of the University of Bristol and Dr. Ruth Webster of the University of Bath, organize the dinners and facilitate discussions, answering students’ questions and helping them navigate the cultural differences of life in UK. Students also write weekly reports that are posted online in order to facilitate discussion between students about the research they are doing and keeping the PIs updated on the participants’ research progress. These weekly updates help students prepare for the final presentations. Before returning to the US, all students give short (15-20 minute) oral presentations of their results. These presentations are held in both Bristol and Bath, and all participants and research mentors are expected to attend, and the members of the research groups are invited. Drs. Nile, Pringle and Webster attend all the presentations and evaluate the presentations in order to award students’ academic grades for research courses from UNCG. Once they have completed their research, the students participate in an online workshop entitled “How to Effectively Incorporate Your Study Abroad Experience into Your Job Search, Resume, and Job Interviews” facilitated by Megan Walters, Associate Director of Career Development at UNCG. This workshop is based on the “Unpacking Your Study Abroad Experience” seminars originally developed at Michigan State University to help students translate skills learned during study abroad into effective resumes and personal statements for work or graduate programs (16). The UK faculty mentors’ research topics are primarily focused in the area of catalysis; an area of great strength at the UK universities. The mentors have extensive experience in helping undergraduate students develop research questions, helping participants format a plan of action, and a timetable. The mentors have done very well in involving our students in every step of the research cycle from synthesizing primary literature, conceiving of and designing procedures, collecting and analyzing data, to presenting the results of their projects. Participants in the program also take advantage of the IREU’s location in the UK to not only have the opportunity to do research in two outstanding chemistry departments, but also to learn about the chemical industry, science history as well as opportunities for international study, work and collaborations. Exposure to chemical industry in the UK and internationally comes through a day-long interactive visit to Syngenta’s largest R&D site, Jealott’s Hill International Research Centre in Bracknell, approximately 2 hours from Bristol. Key activities at Jealott’s Hill include research into discovery of new active ingredients, new formulation technologies, product safety, technical support of the product range and seeds research. The site houses several “centres of scientific excellence” that support Syngenta’s worldwide R&D activities and collaborations. London is also easily accessible by bus or train, and we arrange visits to important sites related to chemistry, such as The Science Museum (part of the National Museum system) and the Royal Society of Chemistry. In addition, we take advantage of the Dr. 112 Griep and Watkins; Best Practices for Chemistry REU Programs ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2018.
Nile’s and several of the mentors’ expertise from working in both the US and the UK to schedule seminars along with the weekly dinners to discuss topics such as: differences and similarities in the education and research environment in the US and the UK, strategies for developing international collaborations as well as work and research opportunities abroad. After returning to the US, all students give presentations at the Southeastern Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society (SERMACS). Students also give presentations at their home campus at venues that showcase undergraduate research, such as the Undergraduate Research Expo held at UNCG or the Guilford Undergraduate Symposium. These presentations give students additional experience in preparing and presenting research results. Through giving presentations students learn to: bring ideas together, draw conclusions, determine areas for future research and disseminate results. After the summer research experience, students are encouraged to use Skype and other web-based technologies to keep in touch and attend international group meetings.
Recruiting – Local and National Our main goal is to recruit a diverse group of 10 of the best possible participants for the program. We aim to have the maximum number of participants from UNCG be two and the maximum number from PERC schools (including those from UNCG) be four. We focus recruiting the national pool of students in the southeastern US. This allows us to personally recruit at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU), which are primarily in the southeast. It also facilitates taking students as a group to SERMACS to present their results the fall after their research experience. We are not limited to that region - we had an outstanding participant in the 2015 cohort from California State University at Bakersfield. The pools of local students that receive particular emphasis are: Students enrolled in UNCG’s BS in Chemistry with a concentration in research: In 2006 UNCG’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry began offering a “research concentration” in the B.S. degree (funded in part by NSF CHE 0418208). The concentration was a result of several faculty members having had students volunteer to work in their research labs as freshmen and then observing that these students not only survived but flourished, often continuing their research until their graduation. During this time they became very productive independent researchers. They presented their results at meetings and were co-authors on publications. The resulting research-based concentration involves students in research beginning in their freshman year through their senior year culminating in the submission of an undergraduate thesis and presentation of a thesis seminar. The availability of summer research courses is particularly attractive to these majors as it allows the completion of as many as two of their seven required research courses per summer. Students from the Piedmont Educational Research Consortium (PERC): PERC consists of the chemistry departments of the institutions of the Greater Greensboro Consortium (GGC). The GGC is an association of diverse colleges and universities located in and around Greensboro, North Carolina. The diversity 113 Griep and Watkins; Best Practices for Chemistry REU Programs ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2018.
of the institutions in such close physical proximity allows students and faculty members from colleges and universities with very different backgrounds to interact and collaborate. In 2006, PERC was created to increase opportunities for students, and collaborations between chemistry faculty members in the GGC. Dr. Nile and Dr. Glenn were instrumental in creating and organizing PERC and have established strong connections with faculty members from all the institutions. Of the PERC institutions, the number of full-time chemistry faculty ranges in size from as large as 15 to as small as one. PERC colleges and universities include Primarily Undergraduate Institutions (PUIs), HBCUs and Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs). The faculty members in smaller departments in the consortium face challenges in being research active because of significantly heavier teaching loads as well as lack of access to library and instrumentation resources, which limits research opportunities for students. The members of PERC are: The University of North Carolina Greensboro (UNCG) MSI: Co-educational public liberal arts and research university with an enrollment of 19,000 including 16,000 undergraduate students. North Carolina A&T State University (NC A&T) HBCU: Originally founded as one of two land grant colleges in North Carolina; now a comprehensive co-educational public university with an enrollment of 9,200 undergraduates, and is part of the University of North Carolina system. Bennett College for Women HBCU, PUI: Private liberal arts college for women; founded by the United Methodist Church with an enrollment of 600 undergraduates. Elon University PUI: Private liberal arts university; founded by the United Church of Christ, with an enrollment of 5,700 undergraduates. Greensboro College PUI: Private liberal arts college; founded as a women’s college by the United Methodist Church, now a co-educational institution with an enrollment of 1000 undergraduates. Guilford Technical Community College (GTCC): An institution in the state community college system with an enrollment of 11,000 students in a variety of vocational and college preparatory programs. Guilford College PUI: Private liberal arts college; founded by the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) with an enrollment of 1,800 undergraduates. High Point University PUI: Private liberal arts university; founded by the United Methodist Church with an enrollment of 4,200 undergraduates. Winston-Salem State University (WSSU) HBCU, PUI: Founded in 1882, a public, master’s level co-educational university with an enrollment of 6000 undergraduates, and is part of the University of North Carolina system. National recruiting: The PIs send information advertising the program to chemistry department chairs at PUIs and HBCUs in the southeastern US that have chemistry majors. In addition, they reach out personally to colleagues at PUIs and HBCUs and encourage them to share the information about the program with their students. We created a website to advertise the program to prospective students and also publicize the program through the Chemistry REU Leadership Group (https://chemnsfreu.com/) as well as through social media such as Facebook and Twitter. The program is also publicized to organizations 114 Griep and Watkins; Best Practices for Chemistry REU Programs ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2018.
dedicated to promoting underrepresented minorities (URM) participation in science such as National Organization of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE) and Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS). In addition, we distribute information about the program to prospective students at regional and national ACS meetings, especially SERMACS, where many of the participants have presented their research. We have found that the alumni of the program are some of the best recruiters. Two additional colleagues help Dr. Nile and Dr. Glenn recruit a large and diverse pool of applicants. Dr. Iris Wagstaff agreed to be a member of our team to help with recruitment of URM students. A former student of the Dr. Nile she is STEM Program Director, American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and was also an AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow at the Department of Justice. Dr. Wagstaff is an Adjunct Associate Professor of Chemistry at UNCG and is on the Executive Committee of NOBCChE. Dr. Mary Crowe, Associate Provost of Experiential Education at Florida Southern College (FSC) also helps with recruiting, specifically from PUIs nationwide. Using her connections with the Independent Colleges Organizations (ICO) in NC and the ICO-FL she advertises the programs to her colleagues at PUIs. FSC is one of the tight knit “I-4” five PUIs, all within an hour’s drive of FSC. Dr. Crowe meets with chemistry faculty on these campuses to promote and cultivate applicants to the program. She also uses the CUR listserve to advertise the program and work with the Councilors within the Division of Chemistry to promote it. The application and selection process: We solicit student applications with a deadline in early January and make offers by the middle of February. Because this is an international program, the early deadline is necessary, as we need additional lead time to arrange for visas, housing and travel. We are committed to recruiting a diverse pool of applicants and our goal is that at least half (50%) of the participants will hail from underrepresented groups, including women and URMs. Three PERC schools are HBCUs and a UNCG is an MSI, with an undergraduate student body consisting of approximately 27% African Americans and 7% Hispanic or Latino Americans. Students are asked to supply their name, their year in school, their matriculation date, their major, GPA, gender, race, whether they are first generation college students, whether they are low-income as defined by current federal standards, their plans after graduation and whether or not they have participated in a previous mentored research experience or study abroad. They complete a personal statement about what they hope to gain by participating in the IREU research and submit a copy of their current academic transcript with their application. Two faculty recommendations are also requested. Student applications are reviewed and ranked by the PERC REU steering committee. Both intellectual merit and the broader impacts are important to the evaluation of applications. If there are more willing mentors at the UK universities than student participants, selection is driven by matching the highest priority students with the most appropriate mentors while ensuring that of at least four participants work at each UK university.
115 Griep and Watkins; Best Practices for Chemistry REU Programs ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2018.
Challenges Unique to an International REU A major challenge with an International REU is the mismatch in the calendars of US and international institutions. The UK semester doesn’t end until late June and the US fall semester starts in mid-August. This means dorm rooms (halls of residence) are not available until late June and that research space could be limited initially. Fortunately both Bristol and Bath have undergraduate research programs and these undergraduates have finished their research, written their theses and are out of the lab by early June. To overcome the housing problems students have been accommodated in budget hotels for the first two weeks. This adds to the expense, but NSF allows a slightly higher cost per student per week for international REU programs. Most countries require visas for students. In the UK temporary student visas are issued at entry with appropriate minimal paperwork from the host university. This paperwork requires a valid passport number, so it is very important to ensure that students needing new passports start their application procedure as early as possible. This in turn necessitates an earlier that usual application deadline for an international program, in our case, in early January. If necessary, the US Passport Office does have expedited service for a fee and there are commercial expediting services available. Two issues complicating budgeting are variable exchange rates and airfares. The exchange rate fluctuated over the eight years of the program from a high of $1.80 per Pound (2014) to a low of $1.25 per Pound in 2016. Airfares have more than doubled since 2010 and since the NSF, as a government agency, requires that a US flagged carrier must ticket all air travel, these fares are often not the cheapest available. These challenges can make budgeting difficult, but building in a buffer and supplementation with home institution student travel grants and research awards allows some flexibility. Our students are covered during the program by an international health insurance plan, that is provided by UNCG to all study abroad programs, although in the UK the students are also covered by the UK’s National Health Service. Our program is located in an English speaking country, but students still encountered challenges in communication. In post-program surveys, participants reported they developed a greater tolerance for obstacles, which they had to navigate not only in their research but also through living and working in another country. Once again, past participants echoed this in their responses to a survey question about the main takeaway on working with international colleagues. Almost all responses discussed enhanced communications skills resulting from the experience. George Bernard Shaw said: “England and America are two countries divided by a common language”, and indeed, a participant said they “…learned that even though [the] USA and Britain speak the same language, there is still a huge cultural difference and language barriers.” One student said they learned “…how important communication is, especially in a lab with people from six different countries.” Another student observed: “Working with international colleagues is a great opportunity for improving self-awareness. It forces you to learn how to communicate effectively in another culture where certain language or mannerisms may be perceived differently.” One student who best summarized 116 Griep and Watkins; Best Practices for Chemistry REU Programs ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2018.
the advantages of the international research experience wrote: “The major strength in this program is teaching rising scientists how to communicate across cultural boundaries, and giving us the opportunity to learn about science from the perspective of another culture. Not only are we learning how to collaborate with people in the United States, but now we have worked under individuals from other countries (my PI was French!). Collaboration is important, but a collaboration that extends past the ocean to accomplish shared goals is even more so.”
Keys to Our Success In an international REU program, the research experience is not occurring at the sponsoring US institution, but rather in chemistry departments overseas where the faculty have relatively little to gain professionally from their generosity in hosting and mentoring students from the US. Therefore, we feel it is imperative that a program be developed by leveraging personal relationships developed with faculty at the potential REU site through professional collaborations. In our case, the fact that Dr. Nile had spent a research leave at Bristol collborating with Professors Paul Pringle and Duncan Wass (who later became research mentors for students) was important to the program success. The positive experience Professors Pringle and Wass had hosting students from the US in their labs led to other faculty at the University of Bristol being willing to mentor US students. The success of the program in Bristol led to us being able to expand the program to the nearby University of Bath. In addition, Dr. Nile’s previous experience living in Bristol during his research leave as well as being a native of the UK gave the program the advantage of having extensive first-hand knowledge of hosting universities, cities, culture and language. Beginning the program gradually by having two self-paying students each of the first two years (organized by the UNCG Office of International Programs as part of its Study Abroad Program) was invaluable as a proof of concept exercise. Those first two years revealed many unanticipated problems to be identified and resolved. They also demonstrated that the UNCG’s Office of International Programs and Office of Undergraduate Research could provide adequate support. Our IRES proposal benefitted by involving a very diverse consortium of schools (PERC) as the proposed applicant pool.
Outcomes – Learning Gains In post-program surveys, participating students reported the largest gains in learning laboratory techniques and the ability to work independently. Past participants reiterated this in their responses to the question regarding the main takeaway on the research they conducted: “It was an incredible experience working on cutting edge research. I felt that my mentor sufficiently prepared me for the work I did, but I was also encouraged to work independently.” Another student said “I still have contact with my advisor … and keep updated on her research. I have used some of the techniques I gained in her lab in my own graduate research.” This data demonstrates that the REU program provides both 117 Griep and Watkins; Best Practices for Chemistry REU Programs ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2018.
the opportunity and the appropriate mentoring for students to develop new lab research skills and the confidence to work on their own as researchers. And mentoring didn’t just come from the faculty supervisor; as one student said: “The main takeaway was the sense of inclusion and mentoring I received from all the international colleagues working in the lab.” In addition to providing a first class research experience for a diverse group of undergraduates, this program also allows students to gain international experience, and the participants valued that, as shown by their answers to the survey question regarding insights into international research and collaborations. As one student responded: “International research and collaboration is a lot more prevalent than I originally thought. In my lab during the experience, I worked with chemists from a large variety of countries including Iran, Austria, Italy, and Hungary. I was unaware of how much international collaboration actually occurred.” Participants also realized the value that international collaborations bring to science, writing: [International research and collaborations] “…are vital to ensure a full and rich global research community that approaches the challenges facing humanity from every angle to achieve the best results and most exciting discoveries.” Programs like this REU make it much more likely that the students participating will be part of a diverse, globally competitive STEM workforce in the future. Finally, this REU program provides not only a research experience but also an international experience to students, including those students who would not otherwise be able to study abroad due to the packed academic schedule of a chemistry major and/or due to financial constraints. As one of the past participants wrote: “While there are many REU programs available that give students the opportunity to conduct research at a high caliber, this REU is truly unique in that it sends the message that chemistry can take you places, literally and figuratively. Indeed, the greatest strength of this program is that it allows students who come from disadvantaged backgrounds, like myself, travel abroad. Before this REU, I had never even dreamt of going as far as the UK because it was never in the realm of possibility. I feel incredibly privileged and thankful to have been given this experience. It will forever be my most cherished memory of my undergraduate career.”
Acknowledgments NSF IRES Grant 0966420; NSF REU Grant 1262847.
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