REU site: research experiences for undergraduates in satellite and ground-based remote sensing – fundamental preparation and advanced applications

The National Science Foundation's Division of Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences awarded a Project Grant of $681,265 to the Research Foundation of The City University of New York (RFCUNY), effective July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2028, to establish a Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Site focused on satellite and ground-based remote sensing. The primary products and services delivered through this award include year-long structured research experiences for undergraduate cohorts from two- and four-year institutions within the City University of New York system, combining hands-on research participation with multidimensional mentoring and academic support systems. Participating undergraduates will engage in cutting-edge research across atmospheric, hydrospheric, biospheric, cryospheric, and lithospheric remote sensing applications while developing professional communication, presentation, and research skills under the guidance of field experts.

The program generates additional educational and community impact by facilitating opportunities for undergraduate research participants to serve as mentors to high school students in the New York City public school system and local community members. Through the Geosciences program (CFDA 47.050), which supports fundamental knowledge expansion in atmospheric, earth, and ocean sciences, this REU Site addresses critical workforce development objectives by building a sustainable pipeline of scholars committed to academic excellence and STEM career pursuit while introducing underrepresented populations within the CUNY system to a relatively underdeveloped scientific discipline.

Abstract

Promising undergraduates from two and four-year institutions will work with scientists and engineers to conduct research at one of the nation?S premier scientific centers for satellite and ground -based remote sensing. Satellite and ground-based remote sensing is a critically important, unique, and relatively young area of science, and IT is practically unknown to most of the undergraduates within the city university of new york (CUNY) system. Activities will combine year-long research experiences with multidimensional/layered mentoring, academic support systems, and a robust learning community that produce holistic and engaging stimuli for the scientific and academic growth and development of the student participants. The students will be engaged in cutting-edge satellite and ground-based remote sensing research of the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, the biosphere, the cryosphere, and the lithosphere. Additionally, the proposed activities will allow the undergraduate researchers to hone their acquired skills and knowledge by being research mentors to high school students in the NYC public school system and to members of the local community. This year-long REU program?S objectives include 1) engage a cohort of undergraduates each year in collaborative, state-of-the-art satellite and ground-based remote sensing research through mentorship by experts in the field, 2) create and sustain a community and a pipeline of scholars among whom academic excellence in stem is achieved and the pursuit of baccalaureate degrees, advanced degrees, and stem careers is encouraged, 3) provide students with the tools, the confidence, and the maturity necessary to succeed in a research-rich environment and to develop their communication (oral and written) and presentation skills, 4) create opportunities for students to meaningfully engage in citizen science by partnering and sharing their urban heat island research results with community residents for whom such results are critically vital, and 5) train students in the ethical and responsible conduct of research as well as the ethical implications of scientific and technological applications in society. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.- subawards are not planned for this award.