This year’s REU students with guest speaker Luis Frias and Program Coordinators Lydia Bird and Nicolas Fuchs
This summer nine students from four Greater Boston Community Colleges were selected to participate in the 10-week REU-PATHWAY (NSF#2150417 P.I. I.Zeid, C.Duggan Co-PI) program. Program implementation is supported by The Center for STEM Education enhancing research placements with daily homerooms, lunchtime sessions, field trips, professional development, and Arduino workshops.
This REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates) program provides pathways for community college students to enrich their education and support their pathway to bachelor’s degree completion. REU projects involve students in meaningful ways in ongoing research programs or in research projects specifically designed for this summer research experience.
Program Coordinators, Lydia Bird and Nicolas Fuchs, provide daily oversight and coordination, complementary programming, and supporting professional development for the nine students working in the five collaborating laboratories. Placements for REU participants span across the College of Engineering and include Professors David Kaeli, Michael Kane, Laura Lewis, Amy Mueller, and Sarah Ostadabbas.
Professor Jennifer Love teaching Arduino to a student
These five participating faculty members also engage the content expertise and mentoring skills of their graduate students to further support REU participants. Professor Jennifer Love, Assistant Director for The Center for STEM Education, further enhances the summer program through an Arduino Workshop. Students also participate in weekly Professional Development Workshops run by REU Lead Coordinator Lydia Bird.
Professor David Kaeli and his graduate student Kaustubh Shivdikar in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering are supporting two students while they conduct a Python: Data Mining and Machine Learning research project.
Professor Sarah Ostadabbas and her graduate student Elaheh Hatami also in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering are supporting one student while they conduct an Understanding Human Behavior with Machine Intelligence research project.
Professor Michael Kane and his graduate students Katherine Bassett, Emma Casavant, SungKu Kang, and Jose Velazquez Avila in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering are supporting three students while they conduct an Automation for the Built and Living Environment research project.
Professor Amy Mueller and her graduate students Ben Eck and Ruifeng Song also in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering are supporting two students while they conduct a New Sensors for Measuring Environmental Pollution research project.
Professor Laura Lewis and her graduate student Criss Zhang in the Department of Chemical Engineering are supporting one student while they conduct an Investigating and Controlling Smart Responses in Magnetic Materials research project.
The focus of the REU-PATHWAYS program is to provide students who are traditionally underrepresented in the STEM workforce the opportunity to engage in a summer research experience in addition to providing information regarding degree completion, graduate pathways, and possible career opportunities for the future. Their program experience is further supported by professional development workshops with topics covered including resumes, LinkedIn profiles, cover letters, references, interviews, elevator pitches, networking, and mentorships.
Summer REU experiences have been an introduction to Northeastern University for many transfer students into the College of Engineering.
