Research in 9 weeks, can it be done?

Summary form only given. This talk is based on the presenter´s experience directing two outreach research projects funded by the US National Science Foundation with the aim of increasing the interest of students in K-16 in science and engineering education and research in the United States. Both programs are interdisciplinary in nature building on the experience of faculty from Electrical, Mechanical, and Chemical engineering faculty. The general theme of the research effort is industrial applications of sensing modeling and control. The first of these programs focused on presenting undergraduate students with a summer research experience while the second exposes high school math and science teachers to a similar experience. In both programs, the participant is immersed in a hands-on true research experience. Preparing to work with undergraduates or high school teachers in a research endeavor can be an intimidating task. This is especially true, under the limitation of few weeks available during summer time, if the goal is to create an authentic research environment for students and teachers. Such an environment should offer the chance for the participant to frame a research question, develop a research plan, utilize available resources, consult with faculty and graduate students, and experience successes and failures. In other words, the participant plays the role of the principal investigator on his own limited-scope research question. This talk discusses the general structure of the programs, touches on lessons learned from directing these research experience projects for several years. It presents an assessment of the model of student/teacher as a PI based on the presenter´s experience.