Research Experiences for Undergraduates

Program Basics

Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) is a summer program in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M University. REU is supported by the National Science Foundation, and the program is coordinated with the Texas A&M University College of Engineering’s Engineering Academic Student Affairs (EASA) Undergraduate Summer Research Grant (USRG) and the Texas A&M Office of Undergraduate Research.

During the summer research experience, students work closely with faculty members, graduate students and undergraduate mentors on current research projects and visit renowned research facilities. Throughout the summer, participants attend presentation skills workshops and present short progress presentations to their peers during program meetings. At the end of the program, students submit a written, final report describing the results of their research and make a formal poster presentation showcasing their research experience.

Focus

• To emphasize aerospace research through computational and experimental activities.
• For students interested in research in aerospace to build the related needed skills.

Outcomes

• Develop computational and experimental skills with state-of-the-art equipment
• Gain experience in key aerospace research areas: micro-aerial autonomous vehicles, plasma propulsion, hypersonic boundary layers and nano-materials
• Create a path toward graduate school
• Present and publish with faculty and collaborate beyond the summer, if possible
• Community-building opportunities among US and international REU, TAMU students and faculty

Field Trips

• Flight Museum, Houston, TX
• Ad Astra Rocket Co near NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC), Houston
• Texas A&M Flight Simulator
• Texas A&M Immersive Visualization Center (IVC)
• Texas A&M Astronomical Observatory
• Texas A&M Cyclotron

Program Dates and Application Process

There are technical difficulties with the NSF online application for the REU. It is recommended that interested students visit our People page and search for faculty conducting research of mutual interests and contacting them directly. Also consider applying to the College of Engineering's USRG Program.

Eligibility

To participate in the program, students should

• have an interest in and a desire to participate in ongoing research in aerospace engineering.
• have completed their sophomore year in almost any curriculum of engineering and the physical and mathematical sciences.
• have a cumulative minimum GPA of 3.25 (exceptions may be made based on review of the applicant's last 60 hours of coursework, research interests, experience and recommendation letters).
• plan to graduate no earlier than December 2022.
• be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident.

Furthermore, they must specifically meet the following criteria:

Student Requirements

• Students selected for grant support may not be enrolled in additional courses, other than the required independent study/research course, during either summer school session.
• Research hours to be worked are determined by individual faculty members (40 hours/week).
• Each student will be required to give two brief presentations on their respective project during the course of the ten-week grant period.
• Each student will be required to prepare an abstract, final paper and a poster presentation describing the results of his/her research program.

Funding

Each participant will receive

• a stipend of $5,000 for the 10-week research experience.
• housing provided adjacent to campus. Students choosing to live elsewhere will have up to a $1,000 housing allowance.
• travel expenses covered up to $400 for travel to and from Texas A&M.
• tuition and fees covered for summer admission to Texas A&M.

Sample of On-going Related Research

The research consists of modeling and testing of rarefied plasma turbulence. Some models use the mesoscale Lattice-Boltzmann Method (LBM) in multi-species plasma and magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) codes written in Fortran or C++. Testing involves visualizing plasmas using techniques such as Planar Laser-Induced Fluorescence (PLIF).

Visit our Previous Research and Participants page for a list of recent summer research experiences.

Program Contact