REU Site: Computational and Data Intensive Astrophysics at the University of Florida

This award will support the renewal of a 10-week summer REU (Research Experiences for Undergraduates) Site program serving 8 student interns per year at the University of Florida (UF). The REU program will leverage access to cutting-edge supercomputing facilities that include the UF’s Informatics Institute as well as the newly established AI initiative on campus. Participating students will be involved in research that will provide training in a critically emerging area for careers both within and outside the academia. The program will also provide educational opportunities outside of the laboratory to build professional writing, oral presentations, and networking skills. The program is fully committed to working toward the recruitment, admission, training, and empowerment of a diverse REU cohort. To this end they are fostering long-term relationships with regional colleges and universities with limited research opportunities while also recruiting nationally. They intend to partner with other undergraduate programs on the UF campus to broaden the reach of these opportunities to nearly 100 undergraduates every summer. 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.