Melissa Montellano, a California State University, Monterey Bay (CSUMB) junior majoring in the Social & Behavioral with concentrations in Sociology and Geographic Information Sciences has been awarded a highly competitive and prestigious academic award funded by the National Science Foundation to receive world-class training in the sociology as part of the Texas A&M Sociology Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU). The competition for the award was at the national level and Melissa won out amongst hundreds of applicants.
The REU Summer Institute “Research Institute in Sociology and Social Inequality” provides undergraduate students with the opportunity to gain a better understanding of the patterns, nature, causes, and consequences of social disparities through hands-on participation in research projects supervised by leading faculty researchers. The program is supported by the National Science Foundation for the purpose of promoting undergraduate experiences in social science research.
Students spend two months at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas working with and training under research mentors in sociology. They also attend a professional conference to present their research results. Students also receive a generous stipend and the program also covers costs for room and board, travel to and from College Station, travel costs for research field trips, and travel costs for conference attendance.
Melissa’s achievements and passion for “marrying” sociology and the geographic information sciences are something to be proud of.
“This award is one of the most lucrative and academically supported training programs ever to be awarded to an undergraduate not only at CSU Monterey Bay but also within the CSU System,” said her advisor, Dr. Armando Arias, Founding Faculty & Professor in the Social & Behavioral Sciences.
For more information, please go to sociology.tamu.edu/reu-desc.