Why SEE REU ?

Some quotes from 2006 participants:

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

"Traditionally there's tons of opportunities to research at my school. However, none of the research that's going on really falls with in my interest, so that's why I was looking for outside programs for, so I can do stuff that I am interested in."

"One thing that the seminar did do was that it hyped me up about writing a paper which hopefully will be published in a journal."

"I think it's just the skill of learning how to do research, how to write a protocol, how to write a paper, how to write a whatever - you need to do, a poster. All those skills will help you in the future when you move on and decide to work for an industry."

"Yeah, my project was working on finding alternative resources to produce ethanol and it helped me to think about environmental issues."

MEET NEW PEOPLE AND MAKE LONG LASTING CONNECTIONS

"I have had the opportunity to meet a lot of different people, talking opportunities, and letters of recommendation, whatever. I’ve had the opportunity to work with other people and talk to other people; its kind of fun."

"We met a lot of people. They had a party last weekend for everyone in the lab to get to know each other and meet each other to make connections that would be used for networking."

MENTORING

"I have always been comfortable with my mentor and my grad student. They are both energetic and very positive and encouraging."

"I had the opportunity to work with somebody for a month and [my mentor] taught me everything I needed to know for the experiment and I am fairly comfortable with everything that I have to do."

"We meet every week and talk about what the next step is and how to approach it, but figuring out the mechanics of it and the actual work I’m left on my own, and that’s fine. I like that I have a lot of input and [my mentor] values what I have to say regarding where we should take the project next."

"My lab was really structured my mentor was very particular about everything, not so much how everything should be done but that my mentor wanted me to have a good clear understanding of what I was doing before I got into the lab."

ATTEND GREEN ENGINEERING CONFERENCE

"I thought it was very beneficial and very interesting. I think for most of us it was the first engineering conference we’d ever been to. It was good for us to see how they work and get a feel for if we continue with engineering [to know that] we will be attending conferences. I just liked the whole experience; I wish we had a little bit more time."
 
"I was extremely impressed with the fact that it was worldwide. I thought it was just going to be a U.S. thing and I was surprised to find out how many people are working toward more sustainable practices. It’s good to know engineering is now moving towards trying to do things more efficiently and more eco-friendly."