REU Opportunities
Explore opportunities for undergraduate students to engage in hands-on research experience. REU students work alongside experienced researchers, gain valuable skills, and contribute to meaningful projects. Whether you're interested in exploring the coastal environments of Louisiana or diving into marine science research, our programs provide a unique platform for academic and personal growth.
2025 MissDelta Summer
Research Experience for Undergrads (REU)
Application Deadline: February 21, 2025
2025 MissDelta Summer REU
Mentors, projects, and descriptions
Mentor: Dr. Traci Birch
Project title and description: MissDelta Environmental Competency and Local Ecological Knowledge Engagement. The REU student will assist MissDelta co-production researchers (Hemmerling, Lewis and Birch) with Environmental Competency Group (ECG) coordination. ECGs are a methodological approach to analyzing environmental problems that bring together a diverse range of participants and skill sets. For MissDelta, the ECG consists of representatives from academic research teams [technical knowledge experts (TKE)] and a variety of local stakeholders, including residents, landowners, business owners, fishers, dock owners, and boat captains [local knowledge experts (LKE)]. The ECG, through the balanced input from TKE and LKE participants, will systematically co-develop and test models that they accurately address the impacts of environmental conditions, plans and policies on both the social and ecological environments. REU students will work for MissDelta researchers to gather data from the ECG through small group discussions and local knowledge mapping exercises. Further, the REU student will assist with qualitative and quantitative data analysis.
Fieldwork: Student will travel with researchers to Plaquemines Parish to assist with Competency Group meetings and research participant interviews.
Preferred majors: Social science majors
Preferred experience (not required): basic knowledge of ArcGIS
Mentor: Dr. Giulio Mariotti
Project title and description: Tracking the Mississippi River sediment plume through remote sensing. A large amount of sediment is delivered to the ocean at the end of the Mississippi Birdsfoot. This sediment forms a “plume”, that moves in the nearshore before vanishing in the open ocean. Understanding where the sediment of this plume is going is important to predict sediment accumulation and coastal land loss or gain. In this project, the Mississippi River plume will be monitored through remote sensing, using satellite images collected over the last 30 years. Then, the motion of the plume will be studied with respect to riverine and wind forcings. This project will be mostly computer based, but it might involve a few visits to field sites to sample suspended sediment in the water.
Fieldwork: Minimal field work required involving a few visits to field sites to sample suspended sediment in the water.
Preferred majors: Engineering, computer science, physics
Preferred experience (not required): Basic knowledge of Matlab. But also, any other language such as phyton, java would be useful
Mentor: Dr. Carol Wilson
Project title and description: Geophysical properties of natural and managed wetland soils of the lower Birdsfoot delta. Student will be encouraged, but not required, to join for field work to collect cores in natural and managed wetland areas of the lower Mississippi River Delta (DNWR, Pass a Loutre, SW Pass, Fort St Philip). The REU student will help process the cores in the lab for geophysical properties such as bulk density, organic content, and grain size.
Fieldwork: Yes, but not required. The student will be encouraged to join fieldwork in marsh/wetland region of lower Mississippi River delta. Field work includes small boat outings and sediment core collection.
Preferred majors: N/A
Preferred experience (not required): Someone interested in natural sciences and ok with getting dirty! We can teach them other skills they may need...
Mentor: Dr. Xiaochen Zhao
Project title and description: Spatial and Temporal Variability in Discharge in the Mississippi River. The Mississippi River delivers tremendous water, nutrients, and sediment to the northern Gulf of Mexico, heavily influencing the stability of the coastline and the health of the marine ecosystems. This project aims to investigate long-term variability and trends in the Mississippi River discharge by analyzing U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) observational data from key river gauges, such as Baton Rouge (LA), Vicksburg (MS), etc. Additionally, climatic factors, including temperature and precipitation, across the Mississippi River Basin (MRB) will be examined to understand the key hydrological processes and their responses to climate variability. Through this project, students will gain foundational knowledge of watershed hydrology and develop programming (e.g., MATLAB, Python) and statistical analysis skills to interpret and explain time-series and spatial datasets.
Fieldwork: No
Preferred majors: STEM
Preferred experience (not required): basic statistical knowledge; programming (e.g., MATLAB, Python) skills or knowledge of excel
Mentor: Dr. Emily Wei and Dr. Sam Bentley
Project title and description: Sediment dynamics in the submarine regions of the Lower Mississippi River Delta. The overall goal of this study is to collect and analyze sediment cores, geophysical data, and bathymetry maps from offshore regions of the Mississippi River Delta, in order to understand what processes are controlling the evolution of the Delta, and to predict the future of the Delta. Influences vary depending on location, but include impacts of river floods, hurricanes, submarine landslides, and human management of dams, river levees, and other factors that impact sediment input to the river and delta. Students will analyze sediment cores and bathymetry maps of the seabed. At present, students are conducting sedimentological and chronological analyses of sediment cores we have in hand.
Fieldwork: Yes. Students will have opportunities to attend multi-day trips offshore on research vessels. Field work may involve geophysical data collection and/or acquisition of sediment cores and samples.
Preferred majors: Drs. Wei and Bentley welcomes applicants from the following disciplines: Geology; physical geography; coastal environmental science; renewable natural resources; civil and environmental engineering; physical and biological sciences. No experience necessary
Preferred experience (not required): basic knowledge of excel; optional basic knowledge of ArcGIS