• ABOUT THIS REU
• ABOUT USF
• ABOUT TAMPA BAY

ABOUT THIS REU

The goal of this three year summer REU is to provide a well structured research and professional development experience for at least 36 junior level undergraduate students in environmental related fields in the Colleges of Engineering, Arts and Sciences and Public Health at the University of South Florida (USF). The underlying research theme is emerging environmental problems and sustainable solutions in air, soil and water, with a particular emphasis on the Tampa Bay region which represents a coastal, sub-tropical environment that is experiencing rapid urbanization, population growth, natural challenges and has university-community based partnerships committed to its sustainable development. In April 2008, USF partnered with the Hillsborough County Planning Commission and held a 3,000 attendee “Green Expo” at USF that included a student poster session with participation from most of TIER’s faculty mentors.

The objectives are 1) to train student participants in the steps required for scientific research; 2 ) to encourage student participants to pursue an advanced degree in an environmentally related area of research; 3) to encourage students to consider the ethical aspects surrounding their research and the contribution of the research to sustaining healthy communities; 4) to establish a sustainable mechanism for broadening participation in academic research; and 5) to create a collaborative community committed to mentoring and advising innovative undergraduate experiences that advance faculty research. Thirty students will be directly supported by the grant and at least six, three of whom are from Latin America and the Caribbean and three of whom are underrepresented minorities, will be supported by the USF College of Engineering and the Florida Georgia Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation. It involves twelve research faculty mentors from the Civil and Environmental and Chemical Engineering Departments , Department of Biology and the College of Public Health.

Faculty and graduate students will interact with undergraduate REU students through individual research projects, weekly research seminars, brown-bag student discussion sessions, a journal club, social and community activities, technical and professional training workshops and outings, and e-forums.

TIER’s intellectual merits are: 1) research on water and waste water provision, control and treatment, air quality and pollution, and solid waste management that addresses the sustainability of our natural and built environment to support healthy communities. TIER faculty mentors will provide REU student participants with research opportunities addressing emerging environmental challenges as seen in Tampa, a rapidly urbanizing coastal community. The majority of faculty research has universal applications and efforts will be made to focus on the applicability to the local environment of the REU site to provide real world linkages for the REU student participants, and 2) training of the next generation of researchers and professionals to grasp and incorporate ethical and sustainability concepts into their work.