Beatties Ford Road Research Experience for Undergraduates
Opportunity Description:
Students will collaborate with mentors and community partners to develop hypothesis-driven projects that will address differential access to food, housing, and healthcare as part of an ongoing research project about social inequalities in Charlotte, NC.
As a collaboration among Davidson College, Johnson C. Smith University, and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, this project places students in research settings alongside faculty members and key community players to define and creatively address social problems in the neighborhoods that surround Beatties Ford Road in Charlotte. Students who participate will enhance their research skills to identify the sources and mechanisms that reproduce social inequities. This REU will focus on the methods of studying differential access to food, housing, and healthcare as important indicators of historically and socially rooted inequalities.
Students will:
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Build scholarship by learning how to plan and conduct research and share their results with academic and public audiences, including through a planned edited volume that includes student work.
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Engage with policymakers and community partners through communication tools like memos and policy briefs.
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Engage with issues of access through social entrepreneurship through work with the Centers for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at all three academic institutions.
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Pursue interests in public humanities through creative approaches to public outreach at the end of the summer.
Expectations
We expect that the students selected to participate in this program will be present for the full eight weeks of its duration and will participate in all scheduled parts of the program. The majority of time will be spent doing research, but equally important are the seminars and professional development program. We would like this experience to be stimulating, rewarding, and fun. At the same time we expect that you will communicate to us about concerns that affect your ability to fully benefit from the program so that we may address them. We also expect that you meet with your mentor at least once a week and discuss you progress and needs with him or her.
Minimum Qualifications and/or Eligibility Requirements:
Current freshmen, sophomores, juniors and non-graduating seniors who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents are eligible to apply. Underrepresented minority students, disabled students, and students from small colleges without graduate programs are encouraged to apply. Applicants are not required to have previous research experience, but should be motivated to learn about research.
Applicants may not hold employment or take classes in addition to the REU if selected.