Summer 2010 REU Program at Stony Brook University

Frequently Asked Questions

What you can expect

In this program you will be given the opportunity to be directly involved with a research project developed in conjunction with a faculty mentor. These projects illustrate the usefulness of scientific research for understanding a real-world problem or phenomenon. Our program emphasizes the integration of diverse research interests and expertise. Your fellow participants may have backgrounds in environmental science, geology, atmospheric science, biology, physics, chemistry, math or engineering. Although our program is designed to be field-oriented, some students may be involved with experimental lab projects or work with some of our ITPA faculty who obtain their data through the National Weather Service and are involved with computer modeling. No matter what kind of research project you are involved with, you will have the chance to acquire considerable ‘hands-on’ experience in the field with small boats and sampling gear, and in the laboratory with basic analytical instruments. Depending on the nature of your project it may be done in association with other students working in your mentor’s laboratory. Some projects are collaborative efforts involving two or three students and several mentors. You will learn the importance of teamwork in gathering and sharing data.

Student-Faculty Interactions

Many undergraduate students have not had the opportunity to extend their education beyond the classroom or a structured laboratory and have little research experience before coming to our program. Before you arrive, our mentors will initiate discussions with you via email and telephone as soon as selections are finalized. They will discuss possible research topics relevant to your interests and background. Mentors will also provide some background reading materials.

Student-Student Interactions

Administrative Aide Mrs. Goldsmith and I field a variety of questions before students arrive on campus. Mrs. Goldsmith is in frequent contact with students to make travel plans, complete paperwork for stipends, etc. Information about Stony Brook University, SoMAS, faculty interests, and the Eastern Long Island environment are available on our website. You will be contacted by the graduate student assistant for the program and receive information about the other students in the program and their email addresses. In our experience, once students have been accepted and decide to participate, they are eager to introduce themselves to one another and correspond with the graduate student assistant and their mentors. We provide information about what they need to bring and what they can expect. During the program, the graduate student assistant is crucial for facilitating student to student communication both scientifically and socially.

Development of Communication Skills

Students are introduced to the art of scientific writing and verbal presentation of research by mentors and graduate students. By the end of the first week you are expected to have developed a project prospectus which you will finalize with your mentor and describe to the other students and mentors. Our program is very interactive. Students not only work with their mentors, but with graduate, undergraduate, and possibly high school students in their laboratories. Mentors generally meet with or are in contact with students on a daily basis. Field work is dictated by the project needs/weather conditions/ tides, etc. and organizational meetings are held regularly to discuss the schedule. Data and samples are shared as appropriate. Toward the end of each week, students and mentors meet to discuss progress on individual projects and individual sampling needs for the upcoming week.

Final Report and Symposium

Each student is expected to write up the results of their individual projects including data files for their mentors and to make a PowerPoint presentation at a final symposium. By the conclusion of the program you will be relatively comfortable speaking before a group, presenting your data, and fielding questions. Everyone is a little nervous, but we have found that students in fact look forward to presenting the conclusion of their project. The Final Symposium is a popular event with a large turnout including mentors, other faculty, graduate students, and sponsors. We conclude with lunch and group photo. Copies of final presentations are collected onto a single CD Rom and distributed to students, mentors, NSF program manager and other sponsors, and other interested parties. Final reports are expected to include an introduction, objectives/hypotheses, results, discussion/conclusions, literature cited, figures, and tables.

Informal Interactions

Throughout the summer we will take advantage of opportunities for informal lunchtime get-togethers of faculty mentors and students. We schedule guest speakers throughout the summer. You will find that fieldwork provides excellent opportunities for informal discussions which might include research related topics, to possible career choices, environmental issues, or consequences of governmental policies, etc. We work hard to familiarize REU students with a broad spectrum of research possibilities and promote interactions among a variety of students and faculty. In our experience, students are excited to be able to talk to faculty outside of a formal classroom setting. This is a two-way learning experience since the students come from different geographic areas and have different experiences from each other and from our mentors.

Introductory Lectures

We will spend the first week and a half at Stony Brook, two weeks in Bimini (returning by the end of June) and the remainder of the time at Stony Brook. During the first week of the program we will have a series of introductory lectures to familiarize students with the local environment, the Bimini field site (travel arrangements, accommodations/meals, schedule, expectations/responsibilities), and general coastal ocean and atmospheric processes, the safe operation of boats and sampling gear, and general laboratory/chemical use safety. Individual mentors will provide hands-on laboratory sessions with students so they become familiar with the correct use of various instruments specific to their research. Mentors also make sure that students are cognizant of Health and Environmental Safety regulations.