The altREU program is an alternative, fully online, team- and project-based Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) with a focus on designing, programming, and using computers to benefit society. The program is designed for you, a curious, motivated doer, eager to go through a unique learning experience that has the potential to impact both your career as well as society.
“Instead of going through hours of lectures and training, you’ll learn by doing, with the help of your team members, other participants, and dedicated mentors.“
What is different compared to a regular NSF REU internship?
The 10 week, fully online, team- and project-based program is different from other research programs for undergraduate students.
| NSF REU | altREU | Why it matters | |
| Location | Usually in-person | Fully online | No need to travel. |
| Time commitment | Full time | Part-time, with lots of flexibility | You can do other things that matter to you. |
| Project selection | Assigned or chosen from list | Chosen by you | Do what you are most passionate about. |
| Project variety | Very narrow | Broad | More options, more flexibility. |
| Teamwork | Usually no | Yes | Do more together. |
| Stipend | Yes | No | Less pressure and obligations, more flexibility. You can still work a job. |
| Surveys and focus groups | Yes | No | More time to work on your project. |
| Non-US citizens | No | Yes | All are welcome. |
| Bring a friend, or two | No | Yes | Collaborate, do more together. |
| Application essays, resumes, and transcripts | Yes | No | Focus on what matters. Grades are not a good predictor for success in research. |
| Demographics questions | Yes | No | All are welcome and treated equally. |
| Training | First 1-2 weeks | As needed, learn by doing | More individual learning by doing. |
| Social activities | Lots, whether you like it or not | Only if the cohorts wants it | More time to work on your project. |
“We don’t give students pre-defined projects. Instead, teams—with our help and feedback—will come up with their own project ideas.“
What project will my team work on?
If you already have a project in mind that fits the altREU’s focus areas and topics (see illustration below), great, then we’ll help you to flesh out the details and to come up with a solid “formal” proposal before the internship starts. If you don’t have a project yet, no worries, in that case, we’ll have a conversation with the goal to come up with some great ideas for you.
Once you have project, we’ll find an appropriate (faculty, industry, or other) mentor for you who can help you and your team to be successful.
What will a typical day look like?
- Check in with your team and mentors on Slack
- If necessary, set up a video call
- Update Kanboard with the daily tasks you plan to complete
- Work on the project
- Participate in group discussions and check-ins with your mentors
- Update Kanboard with what you accomplished
- Commit your code on Github
Note that depending on your timezone, your availability, and your group (if you decide to be part of one) constraints, some activities may have to happen on weekends. Also, we typically tailor daily and weekly activities to each cohort with to goal to accommodate as many of your constraints and preferences as possible.
What skills do I need to have?
We want you to learn new things, and that is why we don’t have a strict set of skills (nor a specific major, for that matter) that you should have before applying to the program. However, having some (or all) of the following skills may help you to realize the project you are passionate about:
- Almost anything you do around computers in these days—whether you design them or build an app—will involve some sort of programing. Thus, the better your programming skills are (in any language), the more progress you are likely going to make with your project. Python tends to be the language of choice in these days in a lot of fields, but you are free to use any language for your project. And if you are not a skilled programmer yet, why not convince a friend (or two) to join your team?
- Familiarity with Linux and the command line are a plus, especially if you are going to use our remote servers to run numerical simulations.
- Algorithmic thinking is always a welcome skill to have.
OK, what if I don’t have these skills? Don’t despair! This may be the moment to learn something new. You should still apply!
A list of possible internship project topics. You can work at various levels of the “compute stack.”
What things will I need?
- You should have access to a computer that will allow you to write computer code and to run small-scale simulations. You should have permission to install freely available open source software. Having access to a tablet only is not enough.
- You should have a decent webcam and a microphone for video conferences.
- You should have access to a stable, high-speed internet connection that will allow you to participate in video conferences.
- You should have a comfortable place where you can work, concentrate, and hold video chats relatively undisturbed.
OK, I don’t have some of these things. Can you use resources from your school? The local library perhaps?
What tools will you use?
We will rely for the most part on the following free tools:
- Slack: https://slack.com
- Kanboard: https://kanboard.org
- Wiki: https://www.mediawiki.org
- Zoom for video conferences
- Github: https://github.com
Depending on your project, you may use several additional software tools. If your project requires it, we will provide you access to big compute clusters through the Portland Institute for Computational Science (PICS) to run large-scale computational simulations.
What are some of the milestone deliverables you will produce?
- A main project completed by your team.
- Regular social media posts so that a broader audience knows what you are up to.
- A podcast that will showcase your project to a broader audience.
- A video clip that features your final project.
- A presentation at the mid-term and final research symposium.
Timeline:
Internship timeline.
Weekly synchronous events (typical)
- Mon and Thu: check-ins with your mentor(s)
- One weekly group meeting (discussions, brainstorming, feedback, and project update session)
Daily events (typical)
- Check-ins with your team on Slack or via video chat.
- Kanboard updates
- Commit your code on Github
Apply
Hop over to the application page.