Program alumni

Thoughts from the 2015 and 2016 REU Cohorts

What was the application process like?

The application is quick and easy, but also asks excellent questions for creating a picture of the applicant as a researcher.
The application process was straightforward.
I liked the application process because I thought the essay questions were really interesting and showed the ideals or goals of the REU really well.
The application process for the Notre Dame REU was much simpler than I expected it to be. It was straight forward on the required materials and on how recommendation letters should be submitted.

What was it like to live on the Notre Dame campus?

food was high quality and relatively close....dining rooms closed at 7 pm which was too early for me...I cooked for myself in the dorms.
I went to RA-organized movie nights, BBQs, movies on the lawn, swimming in the lakes....went to Warren Dunes...the Kenyan feast was a great event...
Working on the Notre Dame campus was a dream come true! The facilities are beautiful and resources I was able to use for my research were top notch.
Notre Dame is a beautiful campus with nice facilities. Research at Notre Dame was a great experience.
Living at Notre Dame was easy. The dorms for the REU were located close to everything one would use on a daily basis, such as the labs, cafeterias, library, parking lot and gym. This made getting acquainted to the campus a seamless process.
I absolutely loved being on Notre Dame's campus! The campus is beautiful and had some many things to offer from the trails and beach to the awesome food. The people there are also incredibly nice and really helpful.

What did you take away from the experience of doing research full time over the summer?

The meetings before our deliverables were more than enough to prepare me to make/edit the chalk talk, lightboard, and poster.
the summer is really what you make of it...don't be afraid to fail...your mentor/grad students want you to ask them questions! If you don't know, you don't know--you're here to learn! Learn how to manage time, because it goes by quickly.
Science not communicated is science not done.
While working at Notre Dame, you are treated with respect and allowed to make some decisions on your own. It is still a job, so there are still expectations you have to meet. The main takeaway from my experience of doing full time research was that research is an ongoing process with lots of detours and speed bumps. Make sure you are passionate in what you choose to research and always stay positive when things don't go as planned.
My PI offered a plethora of helpful advice both about my research and about my career.
My big take away was that you get what you put in. If you invest yourself into the project you can do some really amazing things and learn so much but you have to be willing to put in the work.
My biggest take away from my summer of research was self motivation. A full time research project requires diligence and creative thinking to progress. Through my time at Notre Dame, I built organizational skills that will be critical as I continue in my research career.