•March 1: Deadline for receipt of application materials at Kansas State University will be Thursday, March 1. 

•March 2-6: In recent years, we have received up to 140 applications and the majority of the application materials arrive close to the deadline.  We usually have to spend a few days compiling all of the application files and tracking down missing materials (i.e., letters of recommendation). Applicants are strongly encouraged to submit materials in advance of the deadline!      If files are incomplete, they will not be reviewed.

•March 7-14: Review of completed files by the REU selection committee and mentors.  We will start making offers of internships to prospective REU students, but will also maintain a wait-list of students until all offers have been accepted or declined.  Students receiving offers will be asked to respond within a week of receiving the offer to accept or decline the REU internship.  We will notify all participants when we have completed student selection but please be advised that this can take up to 4 weeks.  If you have not heard from us, your file is still active and is under consideration. 

•April to May: REU students and mentors should communicate to discuss and plan research topics for the 10-week summer program.

•May 25-27: REU students arrive in Manhattan, Kansas over Memorial Day Weekend.  Students can move into housing, get settled and start to explore Manhattan.

•May 28: A 1-day orientation session will start at 9:00 am on Tuesday, May 29.  Morning activities will include meeting mentors, a campus tour, picking up student ID cards, visiting the recreation center and library. Afternoon activities will include a tour of Konza Prairie Biological Station and learning about the Ecological Genomics Institute, the Konza LTER program, and the Division of Biology.

•May 29: Students meet with their research mentors and begin field and lab work for independent research projects. 

•June/July: The 10-week summer program will run from June to July. 

‣Weekly research seminars for the REU program will be held on Thursday afternoons. 

‣Optional classes in professional development from the SUROP program will be held on Tuesday afternoons.

‣The summer calendar will also include social opportunities hosted by the Graduate School/SUROP program (BBQ), the Biology REU (BBQ), the CORES program (ice cream social). 

‣The summer calendar will include occasional weekend and 1-day field trips to ecologically important sites, natural history museums, and genomic centers at K-State and across the Midwest.

‣Ecological Genomics Research Forum noon to 5, followed by a BBQ @ Konza from 5 to 7.

•July 26: Expected date of the research symposium for the SUROP program.

•July 31 - August 1: Practice and feedback on oral presentations.

•August 2: Students will give oral presentations of their research results in the annual REU Student Research Symposium.  Exit interviews will be conducted for program evaluations.

•August 3-4: Completion of the Summer 2013 REU Program, students will move out of housing, and depart home.