Engineering research experience for undergraduates with topics important to american indian students

An NSF-sponsored research experience for undergraduates (REU) program is described herein. An important objective of this REU program is to encourage retention of American Indian students in the science and engineering disciplines. Originally, the program strategy was to use energy engineering topics of relevance to indigenous peoples. The topic of energy utilization, especially environmental friendly energy utilization, in remote regions appeared be of special interest to Native American students. Over the past two summers, the research topics have been broadened to appeal to the individual interests of the participating students.