Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) has just announced the return of its popular Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) programme, designed to offer students of science and engineering the opportunity to gain practical and research-based experience at distinguished space science facilities. Emirati undergraduate students can now start sending in their applications to participate in groundbreaking space and planetary science research with this initiative, which is now in its fourth cycle. Commencing in summer next year, this initiative will allow students to participate in ongoing research at MBRSC and space centres in the United States and France. Students wishing to apply for the programme may contact reu@mbrsc.ae
Speaking about the programme, HE Yousuf Hamad Al Shaibani, Director General of the MBRSC, commented: “The REU programme falls under the umbrella of the MBRSC’s educational initiatives, which are aligned with the vision the UAE’s leadership has to educate the nation’s next generation in space science. This supports the UAE’s ambitious aspirations to reach a national economy based on knowledge and innovation, and to enhance the competitiveness and leadership of the UAE as a global hub for space science. The programme also supports the objectives of the UAE Centennial 2071, which focuses on development in innovation, space, engineering, and medicine, in addition to the UAE National Innovation to develop the space sector as one of the new sectors in the national economy. We believe that youth are the leaders of tomorrow who will continue the UAE’s process of development in scientific research, and implement the ambitious strategic plans of the UAE in space exploration”.
“The launch of the fourth cycle of the REU programme came after the huge success of the last three cycles, as we witnessed students’ passion to participate in space research and their desire to take part in the Emirates Mars Mission (EMM) – Hope Probe, and future space projects,” added Al Shaibani.
Al Shaibani called on undergraduate students majoring in science and engineering disciplines to apply for the programme and participate in research on Mars, to learn more about climate change and how to analyse data to reach scientific results, under the supervision of experts. Al Shaibani highlighted that, last year, one of the students from the programme was a member of the research team for NASA’s MAVEN, which studies the Marsian atmosphere.
“The REU’s fourth cycle is being organised for the fourth year running, with global partnerships, as part of strategic agreements that the MBRSC has formed with global academic and research institutes, in France and the United States. Over the past three years, the program has proven its success in preparing highly qualified Emirati youth to participate in MBRSC’s EMM – Hope Probe and other space projects,” said Omran Sharaf, Project Manager of the Emirates Mars Mission – Hope Probe.
Sharaf noted that students will receive support and guidance to complete their research, which will be published at conferences, exhibitions, forums or international scientific journals specialised in space science, at a later date.
The Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) programme is one of the initiatives of the Emirates Mars Mission (EMM) – Hope Probe. The Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) is responsible for the execution and supervision of all stages of the design, development and launch of the Hope Probe in 2020. The UAE Space Agency (UAESA) is funding and supervising procedures and necessary details for the implementation of this project. Following a journey of several months, the probe is expected to enter the Red Planet’s orbit in 2021, coinciding with the Golden Jubilee of the Union.
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