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Wolves to Rams (formerly known as Bridges to Baccalaureate) REU Program Specifics

Description

The W2R REU supports six (6) undergraduates from Front Range Community College as they pursue independent research projects in the sciences during and after transfer to Colorado State University, specifically in behavioral and biomedical health sciences. Students are involved in and responsible for significant components of innovative projects within these disciplines.

Each undergraduate student works under the guidance of a faculty mentor, graduate student or postdoctoral associate, working full time (40 hours per week) in their laboratory and participating fully in the research group activities for 10 weeks.

Student researchers will learn about the entire research process, from formulating and testing hypotheses to performing experiments and computations, from collecting and analyzing data to developing interpretations for those results. Student researchers use state-of-the-art techniques and instrumentation available in our departments.

(This program is referred to at FRCC and CSU as Wolves to Rams NIH, but the NIH calls it Bridges to the Baccalaureate, or B2B.)

The REU experience will provide students:

Presentation Skills

  • Research group meetings
  • REU group brown bag lunch meetings
  • Capstone poster session

Career-building Activities

  • Resume writing
  • Career panel discussion
  • Field trips to local industries

Research Skills

  • The library as a tool
  • Ethics

Networking

  • Weekly meeting with other REU student researchers on campus
  • CSU Graduate School events
  • Hiking & whitewater rafting
  • Graduation and poster presentation with faculty, FRCC faculty and staff, and community members

Who should apply

Students eligible for participation in the REU include those who:

  • have attended at least one year (2 semesters minimum) of instruction at Front Range Community College
  • are U.S. citizens or permanent residents
  • identify as at least one of the following (as required by the NIH):
    • Pell grant eligible
    • First Generation college student (neither parent has a bachelor’s degree)
    • Hispanic
    • African American
    • Pacific Islander
    • American Indian
    • Disabled
    • Veteran
  • want to learn more about research as a career option
  • have a positive attitude and can be flexible in the face of change

Dates

Application deadline for new 2021 cohort: April (specific date TBA)

Notification of recipients: May 2021

Individual visits to CSU campus: Mid-April 2022

Ethics and Lab Safety workshops: Tuesday after classes end at FRCC May 2022

REU dates: May 31-August 4, 2022 (10 weeks)

July 4th — holiday

Expectations

  • Once selected, students will agree to stipend/tuition payment contract stipulations, which include active participation in the W2R program at FRCC throughout the entire following academic year. This programming includes two important workshops to prepare for becoming a CSU researcher, including lab skill building and the responsible conduct of research (ethics).
  • In the semester before transfer to CSU, students will visit CSU to meet with W2R team and Research lab mentor before classes end.
  • During the summer directly preceding transfer to CSU, students will work Monday through Friday, approximately 40 hours per week. Some evening/weekend work may be required, depending on experiment needs. Some previous REU students have said that it is common to work more than 40 hours a week. This depends completely on your lab and experiments.
  • “Work” includes (but is not limited to) computer tasks, reading scholarly articles, travel, running experiments, lab meetings with others in the lab, cleaning and proper safety procedures, the use of scientific machines, writing, designing a poster, and other duties as specified by your lab.
  • Short reading or writing assignments to complete on a weekly basis
  • Guided research on a topic of your choosing, as related to the lab you work in. A bibliography and final research paper will be submitted at the end of the summer.
  • Regular presentations of your lab, methods, and research project to groups.
  • Attendance at 1-2 weekly REU student meeting (2 hours each) for professional and personal development.
  • Students will formally present at the end of the 10 weeks for 10-15 minutes in front of a small audience as well as present a poster about their research project during a 2-hour culminating poster session event.

Stipend Amounts

FRCC stipend

CSU stipend

Fall … Fall

$4368 stipend and $3071 CSU tuition payment

Spring … Spring

$5460 stipend and $3071 CSU tuition payment

Summer (as researcher at CSU) … Summer

$3276 stipend with ~$300/wk “per diem” to cover food/transportation costs

Housing

Wolves to Rams does not provide summer housing or a housing stipend, though access to housing in the residence hall or campus apartments with other CSU REU programs can be arranged at the participant’s cost.