Opinions on the REUs I'm considering?

[ModestyKing]

Hey there PF,
I'm aware there are similar threads, but this sort of thing can beget new replies since REUs happen at different universities every few years (some unis stop getting NSF funding after a few years, for example), and I'm not sure all these REUs have been mentioned before. Also, I may mention the university, but I want these REUs because the available projects interested me the most.
I'm considering:
Univ. of Nebraska (Nanohybrid Functional Materials)
NNIN program (one application, includes Georgia Tech, Cornell, etc.) for nanomaterials.
The Louisiana Alliance (7 Louisiana colleges, I'd pick a couple top sites in my interest)
Georgetown University, DC
University of Alabama
University of Missouri
Brigham Young University (BYU)

Do you guys have any comments on these programs? I'm interested in projects involving computational modeling of nanoscale/thin film effects AND/OR actually making nanoscale materials and thin films (learning the deposition technique, doing some experiments, etc), and all these programs seemed to have a couple of projects that were very much along that vein.

If a program is not as good as I thought, I'd rather know now, and if it's very competitive, that'd be good to know just to get an idea of my chances.

Some background if you want: I'm a second year by credit right now, and during the Spring I'm going to be doing a small computational research project with a prof. at my home institution regarding some properties of graphene. I have all A's right now. White male, Applied Physics major.

Thanks!

 

[ModestyKing]

Hi Greg! Thanks for the reply.

Some more information is that currently I'm just getting involved in a research project, unfunded, with a professor to try and get research experience. I'm going to be doing computational analyses of the properties of graphene and have mostly gotten through a molecular modelling basics book that the professor wanted me to read. I'll compare the properties found computationally to experimental results my professor has from his experiments. Due to financial concerns, I may not be able to pay more in order to stay at my institution during the summer, which is why I don't want my main plan to be staying at my institution during the summer and continuing this.

Maybe people don't know the REU programs I'm talking about, so I would like feedback on a different question:

Since I'm interested in thin films research, deposition techniques, and/or computational research into the two former areas, does anyone know good REUs for that? Or otherwise any summer programs involved in that, not necessarily REUs? Basically, given my interests, what paid summer opportunities do I have? Since getting into an REU isn't guaranteed, I'd like to know about the other opportunities I have.
Thanks!