The Imaging in the Physical Sciences REU program has a broad array of activities for our students beyond the high quality research projects they will engage in the research laboratories. These activities are designed to draw the undergraduates into a family of researchers, to encourage their retention in STEM, to help them acquire the skills they will need to be successful in a STEM career, and to expose them to a full range of STEM opportunities.
Introduction to Imaging Science
Developing Research Skills
Research Incubator
Presentations
Grant Writing and Exposure at National Conferences
Paper Writing
Real World Science: Field Trips
Introduction to Imaging Science To introduce our summer REU students to the interdisciplinary field of imaging science and help them place their summer research projects in context, each student will receive the book, "The Science of Imaging: An Introduction," by Graham Saxby, and each week, in a journal club format over a pizza lunch, we will conduct a high level discussion of a chapter of the book. | 
|
| Developing Research Skills Every other week, all of the REU summer students will participate in a 1- hour interactive session on an aspect of conducting and disseminating research. The REU Research Coordinator will conduct the sessions. The seminar will be aligned to coincide with an activity the students are conducting or assignment they must complete. Topics covered will include: - Week 1: Interdisciplinary Research, Working in teams, defining a common goal
- Week 3: Graduate School – do I need it, how to get ready, how to apply
- Week 5: How to write a research grant
- Week 7: How to make a presentation
- Week 9: How to write a paper
|
Research Incubator The Research Incubator environment extends beyond the specific laboratories in which REU students conduct their research, and forms a virtual center within CIS to promote excellence in research and teamwork. The REU Research Coordinator tailors leadership and teamwork mentoring for these students to help the students become better managers of their own time and research efforts, while encouraging them to work together collegially, sharing knowledge, and providing support to each other in their specific projects. The incubator also encourages students to socialize, reinforcing the social, team based aspects of scientific research communities. More experienced students within the incubator (for example, those returning for a second year) will be natural peer-mentors for those with less experience. The incubator will be populated by the core of REU students, joined at various times during the summer by students from a variety of existing programs across campus. | 
|
| Presentations All of the summer REU students present the results of their research in RIT’s yearly undergraduate research seminar in August. Roughly one hundred students present at this seminar each year, where faculty from across RIT as well as industry representatives serve as evaluators and judges. Awards are given for the best presentations, and all students who present receive written feedback on their presentations, covering both content and style. |
Grant Writing and Exposure at National Conferences Each REU student gets experience in and feedback on a 1-2 page research travel grant request they write that can be used by the student, subsequently, to propose to present their results at a national conference. Funds are provided in support of the students so they they may present at a national conference during the course of the school year. Faculty mentors help their student select an appropriate conference. | |
| Paper Writing As the culminating product of their Summer REU project experience, each student writes a 5 page research paper summarizing the results of their research, in publication format. This paper is reviewed by external advisors, and feedback is provided directly to the student and his/her faculty advisor. The paper serves as the initial version of a paper that will subsequently be submitted for publication in a journal. The papers produced each summer are bound together in a single volume, and distributed to each of the students and their home institution department chairs. The author of the “best paper” from REU students' submissions, as chosen by external advisors, receives a copy of the “Encyclopedia of Imaging Science and Technology”, edited by J. Hornak. |
Real World Science: Field Trips Several times throughout the summer, REU students are exposed to scientific research in a real world setting when they go on field trips to a local industries and research centers. Examples of field trips conducted by CIS for our students the past years include: Bausch and Lomb, Xerox, Kodak, ITT, Infotonics. | |
