REU Site: for Community College Students at TAMU-Commerce

This Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) site award to Texas A&M University - Commerce, located in Commerce, TX, supports the training of nine community college students for 10 weeks per year in 2022-2024. This program, funded by the Division of Chemistry, uniquely addresses the needs of the Northeast Texas region and the neighboring areas with a focus on community college students, a large fraction of which are minority and first-generation college students.

The REU site provides a wide variety research projects within the chemical sciences, alongside professional development training that develops students' communication skills and explores careers within the chemical sciences. Ultimately this site aims to develop a diverse "pipeline" for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) studies enrollment and training to produce a more inclusive and robust STEM workforce in the future.

Research projects planned for this site span the field of chemistry, with examples including the development of synthetic receptors to sense or extract polyfluoroalkyl substances; the development of recyclable ionic liquid-supported organocatalysts; and the exploration of new approaches to biomass conversion. These topics represent critical research areas in the chemical sciences today and both the skills assimilated in these research studies and the knowledge gained from these pursuits are expected to bolster the national research endeavor in chemistry.

The program includes early visits in the spring semester to match students with projects and to start the formation a close cohort. Close management of the summer program is supported by weekly oral presentations, weekly faculty mentor discussions, progress and final reports, and a final symposium, including both oral and poster presentations. In addition, three workshops are scheduled to improve students’ presentation and scientific writing skills and training in the important area of research ethics.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.