REU Site: Summer Undergraduate Research Experiences in Integrative Biology and Ecology

This REU Site award to The University of Alabama, located in Tuscaloosa, AL, will support the training of ten students for 10 weeks during the summers of 2026-2028. This activity provides students with the opportunity for hands-on lab and field research experiences that put their knowledge learned in the classroom into practice, further developing their critical thinking and problem-solving skills, and in doing so improve graduation rates and increase the likelihood of participants remaining in a scientific discipline. In addition, the professional development provided to participants assists them in establishing professional networks, building confidence, and gaining scientific proficiency that is transferable to their future endeavors. Students will learn how to conduct research and have the opportunity to contribute to peer-reviewed publications and present their results at scientific conferences. Assessment of this program will be done through an online tool developed by the Institute for Social Science Research at the University of Alabama. This tool will be used to assess both academic and scientific self-efficacy and self-confidence, as well as attitudes about future participation in graduate school. Students should apply to the REU site using NSF ETAP (Education and Training Application: https://etap.nsf.gov). The training students will receive is aligned with NSF priorities in Biotechnology. The focus of this REU is Integrative Biology and Ecology, an interdisciplinary field that investigates interrelationships between living organisms and their environments, and in doing so can address a wide variety of issues of relevance related to human health, conservation and biodiversity, and/or ecosystem services. Students will perform research in the Department of Biological Sciences and have the opportunity to participate in a variety of disciplines including molecular ecology, comparative anatomy, behavior, physiology, toxicology, drug-discovery, neurobiology, immunology, microbiology, bioinformatics, computational biology, and/or ecology. REU students will be encouraged to develop research projects that address multi-dimensional questions that cannot be addressed by any single biological discipline. Participants will explore all aspects of research, including literature review, research ethics training, experimental design, data analysis, and presentation of results. Other activities will include field trips to Alabama research centers, professional development activities to assist students with pursuing future graduate or professional training, and other activities providing information on science careers in academia, government, and industry. After submitting applications using the NSF ETAP website (https://etap.nsf.gov), top applicants will participate in Zoom conversations before the final selection of participants. More information about the program is available by visiting https://bsc.ua.edu/undergraduate/reu-program/, or by contacting the PI (Dr. Jenny at [email protected]) or the co-PI (Dr. Ciesla at [email protected]). This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria. NSF Award ID: 2548175 | Program: 01002627DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT | Principal Investigator: Matthew Jenny | Institution: University of Alabama Tuscaloosa, TUSCALOOSA, AL | Award Amount: $467,374 View on NSF Award Search: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/show-award/?AWD_ID=2548175 View on Research.gov: https://www.research.gov/awardapi-service/v1/awards/2548175.html