Research Experience for Undergraduate (REU) Projects

Positions are open for undergraduate students to participate NSF supported research projects. The REU experience can be gained through volunteering, research credits in academic year, and summer session (open for students inside and outside of VT). For summer positions, funds will be provided for travel and living expenses. Interested students please send your resume and an unofficial copy of your transcript to Dr. Yang Cao.

The undergraduate research projects focus on research training in the multidisciplinary area that combines mathematics, computer science and biology. Due to the interdisciplinary feature, students are not expected to have pre-knowledge of many topics. But an open mind and curiosity in mathematics and science will be very helpful. We will provide necessary training and guidance for students to learn basic theories and techniques and to gain research experience at the frontier line in scientific computing and computational biology areas. Usually a graduate student will work closely with an REU student. Office space and a computer will also be provided in Torgersen 2160 area. Based on your contribution to the project, you will be encouraged to co-author scientific research papers.

Currently two NSF funded projects are available for REU training. One is related to the cell cycle model and the other is related to the insulin oscillation model. For detailed information about the two projects, please check the introduction weblink for research. Please note that the topics in the REU projects will be adjusted according to a REU student's background. A typical starting project will be to run different simulation codes, to collect simulation data, and to join the discussion to analyze the simulation data. As you gain more research experience, you will be asked to design your own algorithm and experiment, write your own code and present your results in the group meeting.

Cell Cycle

Mitochondria Modeling