How to Design Research Projects for Students, contributed by Gaurav Sukhatme, University of Southern California

From CISEREUPI

• Idea: Design research projects for REU students well in advance of the site commencement.

• Objective: Maximixe student productivity in the short time-span available

• What works well:

1. Mentors should prepare project idea well in advance of the site
2. Advertise the projects on the REU site early (6 months before the site)
3. Have students indicate their project preferences in their application
4. Mentors choose best matches, admission offers made accordingly
5. Facilitate dialog on project between mentor and student in the weeks before the site begins
6. Design a project with assessment metrics in mind(Dan Stefanescu)

• What doesn’t work well: N/A

• Assessment data: Student surveys showed that many students liked the pre-site dialog with their mentors - it helped them feel a lot more prepared when they came to campus for the REU site.