University of North Texas 
Many critical scientific advances that contribute to our modern quality of life--from treatments for deadly diseases, to technologies to create ever-more-powerful computer chips--depend on collaborations between scientists in different disciplines. In this 10-week summer program at the University of North Texas (UNT), college students will engage in highly collaborative and interdisciplinary summer research projects that prepare them to contribute to such crucial scientific challenges. Each student participant will be mentored by two or more faculty members with different expertise. The collaborative research experiences will be coupled with an intensive professional development program that encompasses scientific communication, instrumentation skills, scientific ethics, and STEM career paths. Research topics pursued by students will include joint computational/experimental studies of carbon dioxide activation by metal catalysts, applications of machine learning in solvation and crystal polymorphism, corrosion-resistant nanocomposite coatings, and other interdisciplinary topics at the forefront of the chemical sciences. Student participants receive a $7,000 stipend, on-campus housing, and coverage of travel costs and some meals.
A special goal of the program is to recruit faculty partners at the students' home institutions to continue mentoring participants in research during the academic year following the program. These faculty partners will be granted access to research resources at UNT, and they will have opportunities to learn collaborative mentorship skills. Students and faculty partners will be recruited from primarily undergraduate institutions, with a special focus on federally designated Hispanic-Serving Institutions in Texas. Students in early stages of their studies, with no more than two years of college completed, are given preference. The ultimate goal of this REU program is to contribute to a more ethical, collaborative, and creative STEM workforce.