I am a microbiologist and molecular biologist turned tenured biotech faculty turned bioinformatics scientist turned entrepreneur. My passion is developing instructional materials for 21st century biology (
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It's not too late. You can do research on cool topics, get paid, and even live in Las Vegas for the summer. If I were a student, I'd go.
The University of Nevada, Las Vegas is still taking applications for students to come do research in the desert.
The microbiology faculty at UNLV and the Desert Research Institute have received NSF funding for a summer Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program in Environmental Microbiology. This grant will provide students with the opportunity to work on a research project for a 10 week period with a faculty mentor.
Students will receive a $4000 stipend and housing in a UNLV dormitory.
Each REU student is expected to develop a hypothesis based research project in conjunction with their mentor. The students will prepare a poster and a brief oral presentation summarizing their research at the end of the program. In addition, there will be an opportunity for every REU student to attend either a regional or national scientific meeting.
Mentors have projects in the following areas of research:
- Adaptation of Pseudomonas fluorescens to Diverse Soils
- Bioinformatic Approaches to Gene Regulation
- Biology of Shigella in Extra Host Environments
- Magnetotaxis of Bacteria
- Microbial Ecology of Aquatic Ecosystems
- Mutagenesis in Nutrient Limiting Conditions
- Nutrient Cycling
Apply on-line at http://sols.unlv.edu/reu. The deadline for applications is Friday March 16, 2007.
Comments
That would be great, except for the summer in Las Vegas part. I'm assuming they will not be running the research inside an air conditioned building.
Posted by: joltvolta | February 16, 2007 5:21 PM
Oh no! I think most of the research will be in nice air-conditioned labs. Especially the bioinformatics projects. No one is going to put computers outside in the desert sun.
Even the projects that involve the outdoors will probably just have students go outside and collect samples and then work inside the lab.
Posted by: Sandra Porter | February 16, 2007 5:25 PM