JONATHAN (JOFF) SILBERG, PhD
Program Director
Associate Professor of BioSciences
Rice University
BETH BEASON ABMAYR, PhD
Co-Director
Teaching Professor of BioSciences
Rice University
NATASHA KIRIENKO, PhD
Co-Director
Assistant Professor of BioSciences
Rice University
NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS!! Anticipated program dates for 2022 are 05/22/23 - 07/28/23.
The priority application deadline is February 15, 2023, although applications will be accepted until March 1, 2023. Click here to apply: reuapply.rice.edu
This REU was awarded to Rice by the NSF Directorate for Biological Sciences. The goal of this program is to provide students first-hand experience with cutting-edge interdisciplinary research that is needed to predict biological functions sufficiently to reprogram cells to avoid diseases or to perform new tasks.
This award, made to Rice University by the NSF Directorate for Biological Sciences, provides research training for 10 weeks. The focus of this NSF REU program is biological networks, complex interactions among biomolecules that give rise to the diverse biological phenotypes observed in nature. In this summer REU, students will work on research projects under faculty mentors that draw from a range of approaches (classical biochemical and genetic to non-trivial theoretical models that require computation) to study naturally-occurring genetic networks, artificial genetic and metabolic networks, and biomolecular structure, function, and evolution. This program will also provide: a creative opportunity for students to develop innovative biotechnological ideas; leadership, mentorship and social retreats; special seminars and career development workshops; stipend and travel support; on-campus housing; a capstone research poster symposium; and an ethics and responsible conduct of research discussion seminar. Students will be recruited nationwide, with particular emphasis on recruiting women and under-represented minorities, and selection of students will be done based on the faculty steering committee’s evaluation of each applicant’s transcript and recommendation letters. Rice’s Institute of Biosciences and Bioengineering (IBB) administers this NSF REU Program and maintains a database of all the alumni for this program with tracking information on their career progression. Assessment of this program is done via pre- and post-questionnaires as well by using the NSF’s common assessment tool. More information on this program can be obtained by contacting Dr. Joff Silberg or ibb@rice.edu.
For details regarding previous BioNetworks summer interns and their lab research, please see 2016-2020 BioNetworks Research. More photos of this program, as well as additional IBB summer undergraduate programs, can be found in the links below.
2019 IBB Poster Symposium Awards
2019 Summer Undergrad Internship Gallery
2018 IBB Poster Symposium Awards
2018 Summer Undergrad Internship Gallery
2017 Summer Undergrad Internship Gallery
2016 Summer Undergrad Internship Gallery
This work is supported by an NSF award from the Division of Biological Infrastructure No. 1560097.
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