Application Tips

Our application process has been streamlined this year. Thanks to a former REU student, Joe Parks, we now have an online application. Students can fill out the form and attach their CV and other supporting documents electronically. There is no need to request official paper transcripts unless the student makes it to the first round of interviews.

Recommenders will be sent an auto-generated request that they send a letter of recommendation. It is a good idea to follow up with those who you have asked for a recommendation in case the email goes to their spam account or the address was mis-entered at the time of application. Letters of recommendation can be sent directly to reuga@pdx.edu

In your essays and/or cover letter, it is important to indicate your top three project choices. Project descriptions can be found here. This will make it much easier to ensure that students get placed in a lab where they will not only learn from the research, but enjoy the experience. Only one student will be assigned to each project, and not all projects will get a student.

Please be detailed about your housing needs. While we have opened up more available housing this year, we still do not have the budget to house all of the students in the program. For planning purposes, be aware that the stipend is paid in two chunks: half after four weeks, and half at the end of the program. It is important to consider your travel arrangements also. Will you be able to get to and from Portland for the program, or is travel assistance imperative?

If you have any specific questions about the application, they can be addressed to: reuga@pdx.edu

Earlier Deadline Set for Applications

The application deadline for Summer 2011 REU at Portland State is February, 15, 2011. This will give students the opportunity to establish their summer plans earlier. I hope it will increase our pool of available applicants, since many students I contacted for an interview this April had already accepted other REU positions.

We will also offer fewer open positions this year. This is so that we can offer housing to more students. This will increase our applicant pool as well, since we will not be so dependent on finding applicants who already have a place to stay in the Portland area. However, this will make the program more competitive.

REU 2010 Participants Finalized

Whew! Just today I received confirmation that our last student has been accepted into a mentor's lab. Thank you to all of those who applied. We had a fiercely competitive field this year with over 100 applicants. We also have a limited budget, so qualified candidates who reside in the area over the summer were given preference. Thank you all for your patience while this process was being completed.

Our REU will have eight women and five men participating this year, including two high school students sponsored by Saturday Academy. We have students from Ohio, Texas, California and Louisiana as well as Oregon representing seven local colleges and universities and four out-of-state institutions.

Training week has been scheduled along with our Wednesday seminars. Next up, I will be organizing our field trip. I hope to be able to take everyone to see electron microscopes in action at FEI and Intel. It's possible that we may also visit Nike and/or the research department at a local hospital.

New Seminars Added

Last year there were a series of ethics seminars incorporated into the REU. We will continue to retain this feature, but instead of one professor, I have invited four different speakers from the departments of Philosophy, Public Policy, Bioethics and University Studies. In addition to these ethics seminars, I will invite speakers from other schools and from local industry to speak to the group in these informal evening seminars. Topics will include: technical writing, applying for and retaining research funding and research careers in industry vs. academia. I am open to other suggestions.

2010 Projects Posted

The projects have been posted on the website for this year's upcoming REU program at Portland State. These projects are important parts of larger research projects funded by the NSF, DOD, DOE, NASA, NIH and other federal and private funding agencies. All projects contain microscopy and microanalyses-related investigations with sustainability-driven objectives.

I encourage all prospective applicants to review the project overviews and indicate their preferences in the essay portion of the application.

2010 Dates

Whew! The website is finally updated with the current application form in both .pdf and .doc formats. The program dates have been set for June 21st to August 14th this year. We are still waiting for our NSF renewal confirmation, so stay tuned.

2010 Application

There is a glitch I am trying to work out with the link to the 2010 Application Form on the PSU REU website. If you are trying to access the form and cannot, please email me at reuga@pdx.edu and I will email the Word file to you. If you have already sent in/saved the 2009 application, have no fear: it is exactly the same except for the updated due date of April 2nd, 2010.

A new year, a new Program Assistant

Greetings all, my name is Amy Jackson and I am the new Program Assistant for the Research Experience for Undergraduates program. While we are still awaiting NSF funding renewal, I encourage prospective participants to not delay sending in their applications. Information about this amazing program can be found at www.reu.pdx.edu. Please watch the site for updates including 2010 program information.