NSFREU
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The Rice Institute of Biosciences and Bioengineering’s
National Science Foundation-Funded
Research Experience for Teachers
(IBB’s NSF RET)

Click HERE for the 2010 NSF RET Summer flyer.

The online application will be made available November 15, 2009. You can click HERE for a downloadable application form until that time.

Click  HERE for the 2009 NSF RET Schedule.  
Click  HERE for photos of the 2008 & 2009 NSF RET Program.

GENERAL INFORMATION

Rice’s Institute of Biosciences and Bioengineering (IBB) administers the National Science Foundation-funded Research Experience for Teachers (NSF RET) which is a supplementary program to IBB’s NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) award #0649094 entitled “Rice University Summer Undergraduate Research Program in Cellular Engineering.”   Please visit www.nsfreu.rice.edufor more details on IBB’s NSF REU program.

With initial funding from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Rice’s Institute of Biosciences and Bioengineering (IBB) has created a prototypical Biotechnology Summer Academy for students from three predominantly Hispanic high schools (Science Academy of South Texas in Mercedes, TX; Milby Science Institute in Houston, TX; and YES College Preparatory School in Houston, TX).  Students are brought to the Rice campus for a two week program including communications workshops led by our admissions office and focused on writing a college application essay (students leave the program with a draft essay that has been through several revisions), presentations about possible majors and career options, lab tours and research presentations, and field trips to NASA, Texas Instruments, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, and Baylor College of Medicine “Brain Lab”.  These visiting students will be paired with one of our REU interns as their ‘mentor’.  In addition to the lectures, tours and field trips, the visiting high school students spend ~10 hours (over 2 weeks) shadowing their mentor in the lab, getting to see what the environment is like, how research is done, and in most cases even get a little hands-on experience.   

Supplemental to IBB’s Biotechnology Summer Academy for high school students described above, IBB’s NSF-funded RET program is advantageous for both the students and teachers.  By observing how the high school students respond to their experiences at Rice University, these teachers will be able to effectively evaluate what methods could help inspire teaching such topics in their own classroom.  Furthermore, by participating in a 8-week research experience opportunity, these teachers could get practical experience in the science laboratories at Rice as well as review some basic science topics that will make them better educators. 

SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR SUMMER 2010 IBB NSF RET INTERNSHIP

  • This internship is a 8-week program involving participation in on-going research work in a science laboratory at Rice University and also assistance with IBB’s High School Summer Academy.  After this internship, the high school teacher is expected to be able to develop new science curricula that may be implemented in their high school courses and keep IBB informed of their progress towards this end.
  • The deadline for online applications is February 12, 2010.  Notification of acceptance to this program will be done via email shortly after this deadline.
  • To be eligible for this 2010 program, you must be a U.S. Citizen or Permanent Resident and a current science high school teacher.
  • The 8-week stipend is $6000 per teacher.
  • The duration of the 2010 program is from June 7, 2010 till July 30, 2010.