FAQ

Students in the REU program have been involved in projects in: tissue engineering & regenerative medicine; drug delivery; nanotechnology; imaging and image analysis; systems biology; metabolic engineering; biomanufacturing; stem cell engineering; neuroengineering; and microdevices/BioMEMS.

Click on the “Projects” link to see representative projects and the “Mentors” link to learn more about the participating faculty.

Students participate in two sets of professional development activities that typically occur on the same day once a week.  In the morning, the REU cohort of about ten students meets with the director and completes exercises primarily aimed at communicating your research in writing and orally. A second part of the morning meetings involves learning how to commercialize technology that emerges from your research and building a business plan. The final part of the morning discusses identifying and understanding the role of health disparities in bioengineering research in technology development.

Later in the day, the REU cohort joins with cohorts from other REUs and similar programs to form a group of 50-65 students for lunchtime workshops. These cover a variety of topics including responsible conduct in research, a panel discussion on applying to graduate programs, “mentoring up”, identifying and pursuing fellowship opportunities, and networking through social media.

All REU students deliver three presentations during the summer.  At the end of week 8, students five an oral presentation to the larger group of summer students in a closed mini-symposium. We have recently adopted a “5-minute” format for this presentation.

In week 10, each student prepares and delivers a research poster and small groups of 3-4 students deliver a business pitch at the end-of-summer symposium, which is open to the public.

In addition, funds are budgeted to partially support travel to a scientific conference to present your research from the summer at Rutgers. Summer students must receive permission from their faculty mentor to present at an outside meeting.

Students are asked to identify potential faculty mentors whose research interests are well aligned in the application and again at the time of acceptance.  Every effort is made to pair students in labs that they have requested, and if an alternate option is necessary, it is first passed by the student for approval.

We provide housing in dormitories on the Rutgers campus for the summer. Our REU students live with summer students from other REUs and similar programs. The larger group generally comprises 50-65 students.  We provide one or more resident advisor who live with the group for the summer and help coordinate moving, shopping, social activities, etc.

The first few days of the program are critical for a successful summer. In addition to an orientation and safety training, our REU students participate in the Cellular Bioengineering Bootcamp in the first week. Also, ten weeks is a very short time for an immersive research experience, and shortening the program by even a week can have a substantial impact.

We are happy to work with you an your instructors to proctor exams during June to allow. you to fully participate in the program.  We have done this successfully on many occasions.