Coe College’s REU site renewed for three years
Coe College’s Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) site has been officially renewed for three years with an award of $464,737 funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).
The REU program supports active research participation by undergraduate students in any of the areas of research funded by the NSF. Through Coe’s REU site, 10 students and two high school teachers participate in meaningful scientific research each summer. The group spends seven weeks at Coe carrying out research in glass science, optics, particle physics, molecular biology, applied data science, detector modeling, biomaterials and other areas. In addition to the research work, participants also present their work at local, regional, national and international conferences.
This renewal is introducing a new workshop on the use of machine learning and AI tools in spectroscopy; expanded training of faculty and students; and the addition of student journaling.
“The REU site has permitted us to leverage the research to obtain state-of-the-art instrumentation,” said Professor of Physics Mario Affatigato ’89. “Coe remains one of only a handful of small colleges to host such a site, truly a distinguishing characteristic.”
All Coe students are guaranteed an internship, research project or off-campus study before graduation. Kohawks have published over 300 peer reviewed articles in dozens of journals, and more than 300 students have presented research at over 70 conferences. Coe has received numerous NSF research grants, totaling nearly $15 million, and has sent interns to NASA, Google and Fortune 500 companies including Corning, Inc.