Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Program to Engage Students in Planetary Science Research as part of Emirates Mars Mission (EMM)
Abstract
The Emirates Mars Mission (EMM) is a space exploration mission to study the Martian atmosphere. It is currently in the integration phase of development with a launch window in July, 2020. EMM was announced by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Government in 2014 with the aim of contributing to the development of the UAE's Science and Technology sector, developing UAE's scientific capabilities, and increasing UAE's contribution to the scientific community. In line with these goals, the Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program, was launched in 2015 for the first time in UAE to expose students to a career in scientific research. Prior to this program students could only gain experience in professional settings rather than research which has led to fewer students will to pursue postgraduate studies.
The EMM REU program runs for up to 10 weeks during the summer in collaboration with MBRSC's partners in the United States - (1) Laboratory for Atmospheric Space Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, (2) Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, and (3) Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff. It focuses on research related to Mars with mentors from the EMM Science team in order to directly engage UAE students in planetary science research. The global scale of the program offers students an opportunity to be exposed to diverse research communities of internationally renowned researchers to build their experiences from different perspectives. As of 2018, the program was able to impact 5 students in 2018 and a total of 20 students since the launch of the REU program, resulting in a total of 11 research projects presented in international scientific conferences or journals. The program, in conjunction with the mission, succeeded in increasing the base of UAE national students in science majors as has been evident in the number of students applying to the current REU cycles compared to the early ones which were predominantly by engineering students. This presentation will highlight how the EMM has implemented an REU program for the first time in the UAE with the focus of exposing students to international research opportunities utilizing an ongoing mission at the backbone of their research, hence providing them with a link to a potential career option.- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2018
- Bibcode:
- 2018AGUFMED21C0906A
- Keywords:
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- 0810 Post-secondary education;
- EDUCATIONDE: 0815 Informal education;
- EDUCATIONDE: 0845 Instructional tools;
- EDUCATIONDE: 9820 Techniques applicable in three or more fields;
- GENERAL OR MISCELLANEOUS