Last Updated: December 22, 2025
This is our holding place for project descriptions while we get them all identified. *These are draft descriptions.* Keep in mind that research projects can change quite a bit. That is part of the nature of research. You don't know how things will work out when no one has done your project before.
We put a link to recent REU projects for that mentor, when possible. That doesn't mean the proposed project is like the others, but will give you a flavor of that mentor's research. Likewise, some projects have "most directly applicable majors" listed.
Students applying to the program can mention any particular projects of interest in their essays if they wish, but that is not required and we may not have all projects identified during the application period.
Students who are selected to the program will be asked to rank the projects. This does not necessarily limit who can choose the project, but instead is meant to reveal something of the nature of the project.
The following projects have been proposed.
1. The Future of Extreme Events
Mentor: Emma Kuster, SC-CASC and Jason Furtado, School of Meteorology
Description: The South Central Climate Adaptation Science Center (CASC) has produced a suite of projections to help us explore how extreme events may change over time at a regional scale. Some resource managers have observed changes in the frequency or intensity of precipitation events and want to know how to prepare and adapt to these changes. Compound events, meaning extreme events that occur simultaneously or sequentially, are of growing concern to many resource management communities. The combination of extreme events (e.g., drought/flood; extreme heat/poor air quality; heatwave/drought) often results in greater negative impacts than a single extreme event. Knowing how these events have changed and are expected to change can help inform adaptation planning efforts. Using the South Central CASC downscaled projections, this project will build upon existing work to explore the future of compound extreme events and identify how the resource management community may be impacted. By the end of this proposed REU project, the student will have gained an understanding of the uncertainties associated with long-term weather projections, experience with computing statistics and generating graphics, and identified relevant concerns of resource managers regarding compound extreme events.
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2. Coming
Mentors: Harold Brooks, National Severe Storms Laboratory
Description: Coming
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3. Exploring the Connections Between Meteorological Conditions and Population Health Over the United States
Mentors: Xiaodong Chen, Department of Geography and Environmental Sustainability and Civil Engineering
Description: One major controlling factor of our community’s health conditions is the atmospheric environment. Temperature, radiation, and aerosols are a few examples that are responsible for heatwaves, air pollution, and other hazardous weather. Previous studies (from both statistical and biological perspectives) reveal their close connection to population health through case studies or analysis over a limited region. However, their spatial variability at fine scales (i.e., how the heatwave impacts differ across different states/counties) remains less well understood. Fortunately, now we have reasonably good information on these meteorological conditions as well as health data at a much finer resolution. By analyzing these meteorological, population, economic, and population health data, we will explore the impact of different environmental trends and regional health trends, using a range of tools from simple linear regression to advanced machine learning models.
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