The UNL REU Program in Chemical Assembly just finished its fifth year. Over that time period, the number of applicants has risen from about 100 to over 300 with a commensurate increase in the number of qualifed applicants due to an excellent application website and program advertisement campaign. Each year, an average of 8 students spend over 90% of their time doing research. The remainder of their summer is mostly focused on a competition for 4 travel awards to attend an ACS national or regional meeting. Every Monday morning, students attend a workshop to learn how to communicate science to scientists by creating a research poster, or to learn how to communicate science to the public (actually high school students in the Upward Bound Math Science program) by creating a powerpoint slide show of their project. The most time is spent on justifying why the public should be interested in their research. The participants also: tour three local industries to learn about jobs and scientific commercialization; attend workshops on applying and preparing for graduate school; learn how to earn co-authorship; and participate in a variety of other activities.

Coordination of the chemistry REU program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln

253rd National Meeting (2017)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.