Today is the day our REU’s have been working towards all summer. This is the day where we get to see the hard work that our REU students accomplished with all summer. In front of their fellow peers, advisors, graduate students, faculty, and family each gave a 10 min talk with questions. We wanted the…

Our REU students met up with two other REU programs at ODU this summer to go to the Jefferson National Lab (J-Lab) in nearby Hampton. There are 17 total National labs and we possess a unique facility here in Hampton Roads, one of only two accelerators in the country. This is a really cool opportunity…

The students are racing to the finish line on their research projects and the experience of what it is like to be a graduate student with its own set of responsibilities and demands. The independence of choosing what to do with their time goes hand in hand with managing their project goals for the summer….

Now that our students are deep into their projects,  time to start thinking about sharing their results and writing their final paper. Dr. Fred Dobbs lead a writing workshop this week and led the students to think about what goes into writing a scientific paper. Generally, the form that most papers follow is an introduction,…

Just before the July 4th holiday and fireworks our students presented their mid-summer progress report to their peer group,  faculty mentors and visitors. This is a very important milestone for the REU students to make sure that they stay on track, but also give them a chance to practice their science communication skills and share…

EDIT This week our students went on a field trip with Dr. Whittecar to explore the local geology and impacts of sea level in Hampton Roads. The whole Hampton Roads area and shape of the Chesapeake Bay is influenced from the rising and falling of sea level over the past 100,00 years. The first stop…

The cruise is back on! The REU students were able to go on ODU’s research ship the R/V Faye Slover. We started from our dock in downtown Norfolk in the Elizabeth River and rode out about 70 km or 40 miles to their first station at the Chesapeake lighthouse. Along the way, the students learned…

This week was a challenging week for the students as they put together their thoughts and ideas for their first research prospectus presentation. Many of our students are working on projects that deal with climate change and sea level rise. One of our students Ashley Hartman is looking at algae to estimate the sea ice extent…

Summertime is always an anticipated time on campus. Unlike what most people think most of the research done at a university is completed during the summer. Not having meetings, seminars, teaching responsibilities gives faculty and grad students time to go collect samples and go on cruises, write and more. It is very common for OEAS…

The REUs arrived this week at Old Dominion University and they are ready to work hard and play hard. Everyone had arrived the day after memorial day weekend and moved into the dorms on campus. This week was especially hard with near record-breaking temperatures this week. The next morning we started the day with a…