More than 70 undergraduate students from around the United States spent two months this summer honing their research skills at West Virginia University. The students presented their research projects on Thursday (July 30).

Participants in the WVNano Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) and Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) programs, the WVU SURE program and the WVU Department of Biology REU program presented their research at the Summer Undergraduate Research Symposium.

WVU President James P. Clements attended the symposium and viewed the students work.

These unique programs provide talented students with opportunities to gain real-world research experience working alongside some of WVU s top faculty members. They are conducting research on ways to save the environment, looking at the health and nutrition of animals, studying the science of nanotechnology education, exploring health care expenditures and more,said WVU President James P. Clements.This work is not only beneficial to the science community, but is helping train the next generation of scholars, professors and researchers.

Undergraduate college students majoring in complex science fieldssuch as computer engineering, physics, chemical engineering, chemistry and aerospace engineering, among otherswere selected to participate in the SURE and REU programs following a rigorous academic competition. The students were then teamed up with a WVU faculty member to work on high-level laboratory research for eight to 10 weeks.

The students projects fall under four categoriesbiological sciences, agricultural/environmental sciences, physical sciences/engineering and nano sciences.

Its exciting for the students to learn from top-notch West Virginia University faculty who have expertise in a variety of scientific fields and exciting for our educators to be paired with young minds who bring fresh ideas and opinions to their research projects. Along with opening new doors for individuals within a collaborative academic setting, these research projects might also be developed into discoveries and solutions that will improve the quality of life for all humans,said Curt Peterson, vice president for research at WVU and president of the WVU Research Corporation.

Students who participated in the program attend WVU , Shepherd University, Grove City College, Alabama A&M, West Virginia Wesleyan College, Carnegie Mellon University, Fairmont State University, University of MarylandBaltimore County, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Virginia Tech, Allegheny College, Syracuse University and Marshall University, among others.

The WVU SURE program, which is administered by the WVU Honors College and Dean Keith Garbutt, is funded by the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission; the WVU Department of Biology REU program, which is administered by Professor Richard Thomas, and WVNano SURE and REU programs, which are administered by Professor David Lederman and Assistant Professor Michelle Richards-Babb, are funded through the support of the National Science Foundation.

More information on the WVNano programs can be found online at http://wvnano.wvu.edu ; WVU Biologys REU program at http://reu.as.wvu.edu ; and WVU s SURE program at http://www.honors.wvu.edu/sure .