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The Research Experience for Undergraduate (REU) program is an interdisciplinary summer program that is funded by NASA.  This ten week program brings students from a variety of science and engineering back-grounds to the U of A campus to research topics in space and planetary sciences. 

The students are assigned mentors in their respective research areas, and the students get a chance to experience life as a graduate student.  REU student research interests vary from quasar astronomy to water on Mars.  The students also create midterm posters, participate in end of term orals, and attend a follow-up conference.

The students go on several field trips throughout the summer that reflect the major disciplines in the Space Center (planetary astronomy, planetary atmospheres, planetary geology, orbital mechanics and astronautics, or origin and evolution of life).  At the Oklahoma Aquarium, students get a behind the scenes look at what life in extreme environments might be like.  On their trip to western Oklahoma, the students observe land formations that are comparable to those on Mars.  At the Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, students get a chance to visit the lunar and meteorite processing labs and will take a public tour of the JSC.  The students will also visit a local industrial partner to see what the space business is like.  The final trip that the students have is to the observation deck on Kimpel Hall at the U of A where they will peer through a telescope at the night sky.  The viewing is hosted by Claud Lacy, a member of the Space Center and a faculty member in the Physics department. 

The students attend weekly seminars covering a variety of topics in space and planetary sciences.  The seminars are given by Space Center faculty, researchers, graduate students, and external speakers.  Students also receive “how-to” seminars on making poster and oral presentations.

For more information about the REU program, please click here.