Novel Technologies in Pollution Prevention

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Proposal No.: 9732345 PI: Amiridis University: U of SC Columbia ABSTRACT Funding is requested in this proposal for the establishment of a REU site in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of South Carolina. The objective of the proposed site would be to provide chemical engineering undergraduate students with research experience obtained from projects exploring Novel Technologies in Pollution Prevention. This is considered one of the core competence areas of the Department of Chemical Engineering at USC with ten faculty members having active research programs associated with it. Each student will be assigned a faculty member as his/her research mentor. It is further anticipated that due to the significant interactions among the faculty the students will be grouped into larger research teams in three areas: Catalytic, Separation and Electrochem Technologies. In addition to the individual research projects, the proposed REU program will include several group activities for the participants. The goal of these activities will be to enrich the participants' educational and research experience and facilitate collaboration and long-term relationships between them. The proposed group activities include tours of industrial sites, a weekly seminar series, and workshops on ethics in science and engineering and graduate studies, welcome and farewell symposia, and social activities. Exclusively non-USC undergraduate students will participate in the program. Special emphasis will be placed on recruiting minorities from designated "target" schools. It is expected that the program will have a long-term impact on the participants: it will encourage them to continue their studies and seek research careers in chemical engineering; it will assist them to realize the employment and research opportunities available in chemical engineering aspects of environmental research; and it will provide an enriching experience by exposing them to a non-classroom faculty-student inte raction.