Four weeks is a relatively short time for research. For young Americans at an age of about 20 to do research work in a totally different country with a totally different environment, four weeks is actually extremely short. To take the maximum advantage of the four-week INT REU experience, Ren takes an approach to make the summer international research experience a core of the students' entire educational experience but not an isolated event. That is, the students' experience before and after the summer are considered as very important parts of the INT REU.

In general, the program is carried out in the following ways:

Before Summer:
All students start to prepare for their China summer research experience shortly after they are selected to go. Each student is given a research project that matches him/her to a Chinese scientist and his research group that includes Chinese students (graduates and undergraduates). The students and the projects are matched according to the students' interests, experience, and future plans. The availability of participating Chinese scientists is also a factor to consider. The Chinese scientists are selected with teh following two main criterias: having active frontier research projects and willing to spend time to work with students. The students and their Chinese mentors (some time their students) start to communicate by email soon after the student-mentor relation is established. Through these email communications, the Chinese scientists will provide American undergraduates references related to their research, and the American students are encouraged to find these references and read them as more as they can. These communications are very important to prepare the students and to ensure the success of their research experience in the following summer.

During Summer:
While in Beijing, each American student joins a research group to carry out his/her own research project. In addition to individual research, lectures by Chinese scientists and tours to major research institutions are arranged in a group setting to enrich the students research experience. At the end of the summer experience, the students are encouraged to submit two reports, a research report on their project and a general report on their experience.

After Summer:
The end of the summer research in Beijing is not the end of the INT REU. All student participants are encouraged to continue to make progress on their projects in the following year. They are encouraged to present their research projects at regional and national professional conferences, such as the Argonne Research Symposium for Undergraduates, National Conference for Undergraduate Research, and American Physical Society annual meetings.