Our summer program includes individual research experiences in one of the laboratory or field sciences (anthropology, biochemistry, biology, chemistry, engineering, geology, meteorology, neuroscience, oceanography, physics, psychology) or in computer science.
Individual Research Projects
In the computer science IRP's students work in small groups (2-4) with
faculty from the Supercomputer Computation's Research Institute (SCRI) an
from the Department of Computer Science. The students have access to all
university computational systems, including the NEXT machine, an the Cyber
760, Cyber 205, and Cray YMP mainframes. Each student uses the computer
to develop an individual problem and solution. During this time the IRP
mentor works one-on-one with the students to solve any difficulties they
encounter.
In the laboratory and field sciences, students work in groups of two
or three with a faculty mentor and associated laboratory staff and graduate
students on a prescribed research project related to the ongoing research
in that laboratory. Typically the IRP mentor discusses the research project
and laboratory techniques with the student during the first day in the laboratory.After that, the student participates actively in the work of the laboratory.
Formal Presentation of Research Projects
Formal presentation of the IRP's is made to program faculty, staff, participants,
and invited guests during the last week of the program in a 
poster
session, modeled on poster sessions found at meetings in most scientific
disciplines today.
The benefits of the poster session are many. It gives the students the opportunity to view each other's work, thereby allowing them to sample other available scientific options (thus enhancing our multidisciplinary focus) and to experience the camaraderie of the scientific community. It also emhpasizes the importance of scientific communication. Furthermore, the faculty research mentors who volunteer their time to work with these students are given the recognition they deserve by the university's academic adimistration and the state education administration.