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This paper describes a preliminary analysis of a summer Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Site sponsored by the biomedical engineering department at a large public institution in the southwest United States. Data were compiled from the 2018 and 2019 cohorts of the program.Twenty-four participants from different undergraduate majors and universities were selected from competitive applicant pools, paired with a research mentor in the department, and tracked over each program’s duration. The participants were given a 37-question survey upon arrival and after the completion of the 10-week summer program (i.e., pre-test and post-test). These questions were broadly split among four categories to evaluate the participants’ comfort with (1) scientific writing, (2) scientific presentation, and students’ strength of association with the identities and careers of (3) researchers and (4) engineers. Students reported significant increases in their scientific writing skills and tended to identify more as researchers after the program. Conversely, students noted little change in their ability to present in a scientific setting and reported that their identity as engineers was not stronger. Separate focus groups with the visiting scholars and their graduate student mentors were conducted after the program to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the current iteration of the REU program. Possible improvements to the REU are proposed at the end of the paper. 

Introduction: Head and neck cancer (HNC) and its treatment can result in facial disfigurement and functional defects in speech, swallowing, and vision that persist after reconstructive surgery. Body image concerns are pervasive among HNC patients, and a large portion of these concerns stem from worries about social interaction. Our overarching goal is to develop normative interventions to inform HNC patients about how others will respond to the changes in their facial appearance. In this study, we investigated saliency map algorithms for highlighting regions of interest on a clinically disfigured face that are expected to draw an observer’s eye based on color, intensity, etc.