Curriculum Vitae – Robin L. McCarley - LSU Department of ...

Robin L. McCarley September 2011
INVOLVEMENT IN STUDENT RESEARCH TRAINING AND LEARNING
Research Experiences for Undergraduates Program
I was Co-PI with Robert Hammer on a series of NSF grants that sponsored research experiences for
undergraduates (REU) from universities that do not have active or large research programs. This grant
ended in December of 2001, but other faculty took on the challenge of renewing it in 2002, 2005, and
now in 2009. Due to the success that Professor Hammer and I had with the REU program at LSU since
its inception in 1995, we are confident that this program will continue to thrive for years to come.
My responsibilities for this six-year project entailed grant writing, public relations (posters, mailings,
etc.), student orientation, arranging for visits to local industry and seminars by local and national
chemists, selecting students for the program, and managing the finances and university appointments of
the student participants. Due to the limited resources available to us, the PIs performed all of the work
associated with the program. I did not carry out these duties for the meager financial rewards (one-half
month summer salary), but because of the great feeling I got from seeing our participants excel while at
LSU and when they ultimately attended professional or graduate school in the sciences. It is a
wonderful feeling to know that we have helped many students make decisions regarding their future
training in the sciences. This feeling has translated into my advising more than 10 REU summer
students over the past 10 years.
This program has not only been of great benefit to the participants, but to The University and
Department of Chemistry as well. During the time of its tenure at LSU, we had 67 participants in the
REU program at LSU. Of the 60 who have graduated, at least 38 have gone on to graduate school in
chemical science, engineering or pharmacy (63%), and a great many of them are women and
underrepresented minorities (>50%). Those schools range from the University of California-Berkeley to
University of Michigan. In addition, the REU program has had a significant impact on the Chemistry
Department’s graduate recruiting program; we have had more than 20 students from the REU program
become Ph.D. students here at LSU. In addition, the REU program has had an impact on the perception
of LSU and the Chemistry Department by faculty at other universities nation wide.
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