Research Projects

Where Are They Now? Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program:

 

The National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (NHMFL) has had a total of 218 REU participants from 1999 - 2010.

REU participants' academic status (n=151)*:

• 37.9% are pursuing an Undergraduate degree
• 62.3% have completed an Undergraduate degree
• 44.4% of the participants have been enrolled in graduate school
• 7.3% are currently pursuing a Master's degree
• 10.6% have completed a Master's degree
• 19.9% are currently pursuing a Doctoral degree
• 7.9% have completed a Doctoral degree

REU participants' academic disciplines (n=218)*:

• 44.3% of the participants are/were majoring in a Physics discipline
• 37.3% of the participants are/were majoring in an Engineering discipline
• 17.5% of the participants are/were majoring in a Life Sciences discipline
• 15.1% of the participants are/were majoring in a Chemistry discipline
• 11.8% of the participants are/were majoring in a Mathematics discipline

(*23.6% of the participants indicated that they were majoring in more than one discipline, therefore %s do not equal 100%)

REU Mentorship (1999 – 2010):

There have been a total of 74 scientists that have mentored NHMFL REU students from 1999 – 2010.

• 50.0% of the mentors have mentored multiple REU students, and 16.2% (6) of these mentors have mentored at least 10 REU students.
• 66.2% of the students indicated that they also worked with a either a graduate student or postdoc during their participation in the NHMFL's REU program.

REU participants' conference papers and publications (n=122):

• 32.8% of the participants have publications, and 4.9% have papers that have been submitted and are in the acceptance process.
• 17.6% of the participants have publications stemming from the REU research experience.

REU participants' professional status (n=151):

We have obtained information on the professional industries of former REU participants from 1999 – 2010:

• 77.6% of the participants are currently full-time students
• 2.7% of the participants work in Academia.
• 2.7% of the participants work in Government
• 17.0% of the participants work in Private Industry

91.8% of REU participants surveyed indicated that participating in the NHMFL's REU program was either very or moderately important to their career decisions.

82.2% of the REU participants surveyed indicated that participating in the NHMFL's REU program was either very or moderately important to their decision about what field to study.

80.8% of the REU participants surveyed indicated that after participating in the NHMFL's REU program their interest in science, math, or engineering research increased.

82.2% of the REU participants surveyed either agreed or strongly agreed with the statement "the NHMFL REU program was well organized".

80.8% of the REU participants surveyed either agreed or strongly agreed that they felt they were part of the NHMFL research team.

97.3% of the REU participants surveyed either agreed or strongly agree that they gained an understanding of how scientists do real research.

56.2% of the REU participants surveyed indicated that they learned they wanted to go to graduate school after participating the NHMFL's REU program.

• 38.4% of the participants surveyed indicated that they learned that they wanted to go for a Ph.D. after participating in the NHMFL's REU program
• 17.8% learned that they wanted to go for a Master's degree

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For more information please contact Center Director Pat Dixon at pdixon@magnet.fsu.edu or
(850) 644-4707.