PaleoNet: Accessible Sharks Undergraduate Summer Research Opportunity 2024

[Elizabeth Sibert]

Dear Paleonet Community,

Please forward to any interested students/departments. Much more information is available on the webpage: https://accessiblesharks.wordpress.com/ and specific questions can be addressed to accessiblesharksreu at gmail.com. If you are interested in being a mentor for students in this program this summer, please fill out the mentor interest form (https://forms.gle/SAYCAGLe2h51tsZA7). 

**Paid opportunity for disabled undergraduates to participate in interdisciplinary research on sharks this summer** 

Accessible Sharks is an NSF-Funded summer internship program that supports disabled undergraduate students to participate in interdisciplinary summer research on sharks. Students will have the opportunity to work on aspects of shark scale development, their fossil record, or shark skin-inspired engineering and design, at one of three institutions around the US. The program ran successfully in summer of 2023 and is running again this upcoming summer  2024, The 2024 summer will support 3 students participating in an 8-10 week research project at their host institution (Univ. of Florida, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, or Harvard), as well as professional development opportunities and specific disability in STEM activities and discussions. 

Successful applicants will join a lab group for the summer, and be provided with a stipend, housing, travel support, as well as support and accommodations related to their individual disability. They will also participate in undergraduate summer research activities at their location, as well as interdisciplinary cross-institution meetings and discussions. Remote participation and research is possible, and will be considered on a case-by-case basis, although students will be supported and encouraged to participate in person where possible.

This REU program is open to all undergraduate students with disabilities (e.g. mobility, sensory, learning, psychological, medical, or other disability – please see webpage FAQ for more information), who are majors in biology, geology, environmental science, engineering, or other related fields. Prior research experience is not required or expected. Students from historically excluded and non-traditional backgrounds are especially encouraged to apply, and preference will be given to highly motivated students who have not had access to comparable research opportunities through their home institutions. Unfortunately we are bound by NSF funding rules and can only support US Citizens and permanent residents this year, but hope to change that in future years, and apologize for the exclusionary funding stipulations of NSF. 

Application deadline is January 19, 2024. 

To learn more and apply, please visit: 
https://accessiblesharks.wordpress.com/ 

Thank you for considering circulating this, and happy 2024! 

Best,
Elizabeth



--
Elizabeth C. Sibert, PhD
Assistant Scientist
Department of Geology and Geophysics
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
esibert at whoi.edu
elizabethsibert.com
https://directory.whoi.edu/profile/esibert/