Undergrad scientists to present research at URI

THE EIGHTH annual Rhode Island Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) program will be held July 31 at the University of Rhode Island. This is a photograph from last year's conference. / COURTSY UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND
THE EIGHTH annual Rhode Island Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) program will be held July 31 at the University of Rhode Island. This is a photograph from last year's conference. / COURTSY UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND

SOUTH KINGSTOWN – The eighth annual Rhode Island Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) program will be held July 31 at the University of Rhode Island’s College of Pharmacy building, 7 Greenhouse Road, and at the Center for Biotechnology and Life Sciences, 120 Flagg Road.
The event will be held from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
The research program, based at the university since 2007, provides undergraduate students with a deeper involvement in scientific research and advances their technical skills to help them refine their career development, according to a news release.

The conference is co-sponsored by the Rhode Island IDeA Network for Biomedical Research Excellence (RI-INBRE) and the Rhode Island National Science Foundation Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (RI NSF EPSCoR), both federal research programs based at URI.
The conference provides undergraduate students from around the state with unique opportunities to present their summer research projects, which began May 26, to a group of their peers and senior scientists.
“It’s a very competitive program,” Brenton DeBoef, coordinator of the SURF program and professor of chemistry at URI, said in a statement. “These are some of the best young minds in our state, and they are working with excellent faculty mentors, not just at URI and Brown, but at the primarily undergraduate schools, too. The SURF students will work on cutting edge research for 10 weeks on projects ranging from neuroscience to natural medicines.”
The RI-INBRE program has 96 undergraduate participants, and RI NSF EPSCoR has an additional 38 undergraduates. About 10 undergraduate students from URI are participating this year.

“We have a lot of incredibly bright students involved, and the SURF program gives them the opportunity to do hands-on research,” David Rowley, professor of biomedical sciences in URI’s College of Pharmacy, said. “They can devote up to 40 hours a week to an authentic research project. It is an opportunity for the students to figure out if science is the right career path or if the topic is what they want to focus on.”

More than 100 posters are expected to be presented in the biomedical, behavioral, environmental and life sciences. In addition, more than 300 faculty, students and administrators are expected to be in attendance from URI, Brown University, Providence College, Rhode Island College, Roger Williams University, Salve Regina University, Bryant University, Rhode Island School of Design and the Community College of Rhode Island.

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For information, visit http://web.uri.edu/surfconference/.

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