REU Site: Summer Undergraduate Research in Genetics and Genomics (SURGe)

This REU Site award to Texas A&M University (TAMU), located in College Station, TX, will support the training of 10 students for 10 weeks during the summers of 2024-2026. It is anticipated that a total of 30 students from outside TAMU and institutions with limited research opportunities will be trained in SURGe (Summer Undergraduate Research Program in Genetics and Genomics). The REU SURGe will provide students with holistic preparation for admission into graduate programs or the job market. Students will learn how genetics and genomics research is conducted under the guidance of the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Genetics and Genomics (GGEN) faculty. Moreover, students will learn how to present their projects to broader audiences, increasing their scientific communication proficiency skills and expanding public scientific literacy. Participants will have the opportunity to discuss their findings with other REU programs at TAMU and the GGEN community. SURGe assessment will be done through an online tool, and participants will be tracked after the program to ascertain their chosen career paths. REU SURGe will provide students with a structured, intense 10-week summer research experience with balanced research and training opportunities. Students will work in labs with GGEN faculty preceptors. Research areas include biomedical genetics, animal and plant genetics, computational genetics, evolutionary genetics, microbial genetics, and bioinformatics. Students will have weekly career development meetings, which allow them to explore research and career opportunities in genetics and genomics, learn and discuss ethics/responsible conduct of research, be informed about applying to graduate schools and fellowship opportunities, and learn effective oral and written presentation skills. Additionally, participants will audit a course focused on current bioinformatics tools via command lines broadly used in genetics and genomics, which can be transferred to their home institution. Students will apply using the NSF ETAP application system and be selected based on their interest in genetics and genomics research, academic records, and recommendation letters from their home institutions. 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.