An Integrated Polymer Synthesis, Processing, and Characterization Laboratory for Physics and Chemistry Majors

应当地工业伙伴的要求，俄勒冈大学正在调整他们的聚合物科学课程，以更好地为本科生在聚合物科学领域的职业做准备。这一课程的变化包括为本地聚合物行业的本科生创建实习计划，并实施一个新的本科生聚合物实验室。该实习项目仿照美国国家科学基金会资助的半导体行业本科生实习项目。在我们的项目中，学生们花三个学期(一个学年)作为实习生工作。为了培养他们在聚合物合成和表征方面的实验室技能，课程中引入了聚合物表征实验室。学生必须顺利完成实验室，才能进入实习生计划。这门实验课程是该课程的一个重要组成部分，因为它使物理和化学专业的学生接触到使用最先进仪器的聚合物科学的前沿问题。我们的工作包括：1)支持尖端合成技术的设施，如微乳液合成和空气敏感型阴离子合成；2)分子量和大小分布的能力，促进合成、加工和性能之间的联系；3)差示扫描量热仪，用于表征聚合物的热性能；以及4)用于表征聚合物机械性能的测试站。这些设施勾勒出了我们项目的基本目标，这也与我们的工业分支机构的目标一致：帮助学生了解聚合物材料生产的整个过程，从最先进的合成技术到详细的微观和宏观表征。

In response to the requests of local industrial partners, the University of Oregon is adapting their curriculum in polymer science to better prepare undergraduate students for careers in the polymer sciences. This change in curriculum involves the creation of an internship program for our undergraduate students with local polymer industry and the implementation of a new undergraduate polymer laboratory. The intern program is modeled after a NSF funded internship program for undergraduate students with the semiconductor industry. In our program, students spend three terms (an academic year) working as interns. To prepare their laboratory skills in polymer synthesis and characterization, a polymer characterization laboratory is introduced into the curriculum. Students must successfully complete the laboratory before entering the intern program. The laboratory course constitutes an essential component of the program since it exposes physics and chemistry majors to cutting edge issues in polymer science using state of the art instrumentation. Our work involves: 1) facilities that enable cutting-edge synthetic techniques such as synthesis in microemulsions and air-sensitive anionic synthesis, 2) capabilities for molecular weight and size distributions that facilitate the connection between synthesis, processing, and properties, 3) a differential scanning calorimeter for characterization of polymer thermal properties, and 4) a testing station for characterization of polymer mechanical properties. These facilities serve to delineate the underlying goal of our program which is also coincident with that of our industrial affiliates: to help students develop an understanding of the overall process of polymer material production, from state-of-the-art synthetic techniques through detailed microscopic and macroscopic characterization.