Research Experience for Undergraduates | 2012 REU Fellows

Why CEINT? From our REU students & interns:

Dawn Smith

Rising Senior
Microbiology
Purdue University
CEINT Research Site: Gregory Lab, Carnegie Mellon University

During my internship experience, I had the opportunity to work with and learn from talented researchers, mentors and refine my laboratory skills. I met and interacted with talented REU students from many different backgrounds and programs. Each of us benefited from sharing our research progress at the end of the summer. Not only did we learn about the different areas of nanotechnology development and risk assessment, but we were also able to connect our different majors through research projects that incorporated multiple disciplines. I also enjoyed the weekly meetings at my research site where graduate students presented their research. It was fascinating to hear about current research involved with nanotechnology and its transport in the environment. As I worked on my project, I appreciated my mentors’ encouragement to challenge myself and put forth my best effort. This experience made me more conscious of planning experiments in advance in order to work with both schedules of myself and my mentee's. Overall, my research experience was very beneficial. I enjoyed working with my mentors and fellow REU students, and appreciated the organization and support from everyone involved with CEINT and Go Research!

Career Impacts and Plans

The CEINT program solidified my interest in bioremediation related research as well as expanded my horizons through the interdisciplinary environment. After I finished the REU, I was inspired to pursue bioremediation related research through Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE). Ultimately I am interested in doing research for government agencies such as the EPA in order to reduce soil and water pollution.

Graduate School Plans

During the REU program I had the opportunity to work with the faculty and graduate students at Carnegie Mellon University. I was impressed by the collegial and collaborative environment I witnessed while working on my internship last summer. I also found the project I worked on over the summer very intriguing. Because of my experience at CEINT, I decided to apply and was accepted in the CEE department at Carnegie Mellon University for fall 2013.