REU 2025 Blog!

Week 2

During the second week, we finished up laboratory trainings and each participant met with their faculty and graduate student mentors to outline their research plans for the summer. The plans included their research objectives, hypotheses, and key deliverables, which is expected to serve as a good blueprint for the summer and keep everyone on the same page. Everyone also reviewed at least 5 articles suggested by their mentors and prepared summaries of the studies in order to get up to speed on the current state of the art. On Wednesday, everyone attended the Summer Research Kickoff outdoor event hosted by the UK Office of Undergraduate Research and enjoyed free Kona Ice and social time with each other and their mentors. We then reviewed our research plans as a group and discussed the main objectives, hypotheses, challenges, and opportunities of each project. Everyone shared what they knew, what they don't know, and they aspects they are most excited or nervous for. Through the discussion, participants learned from each other and came up with ideas for communicating with their mentors about resources they could use to make the best use of their time. Lastly, on Friday, Dr. Stephen Semcho from the UK Counseling Center presented a workshop on mindfulness, which provided strategies on how to incorporate mindfulness into our daily activities to lead a happier life. This insight will be important for the REU participants as they face the unchartered territory of their research projects but also in their daily lives to enhance their mental health.