RUI: Pattern Formation in Cellular and Multicellular Chemical Systems

阿拉斯加大学安克雷奇分校的Jerzy Maselko得到了理论和计算化学项目颁发的本科生研究奖(RUI)的支持，该项目由国际科学和工程办公室共同资助，对各种无机盐体系中出现的复杂降水结构进行研究。派和他的学生已经发现了许多结构，包括一些模仿生物细胞和其他生命形式的结构。目前正在对流动体系中形成的各种硅酸盐和碳酸盐结构进行实验研究。该项目有相当大的国际组成部分，包括匈牙利塞格德大学的科学家对阿拉斯加的访问。匈牙利科学家是模拟化学反应与扩散和浮力相互作用的专家，他们正在帮助开发沉淀过程的计算模型，以探索这些结构形成的根本机制。来自阿拉斯加的美国学生，包括阿拉斯加原住民，将与PI一起参观匈牙利实验室，并参与中欧的研究。这项工作正在产生更广泛的影响，通过调查可能涉及生命起源的基本化学过程，以及通过将传统上在科学界代表性不足的群体的学生纳入一个国际科学小组。

Jerzy Maselko of the University of Alaska - Anchorage is supported by a Research in Undergraduate Institutions (RUI) award from the Theoretical and Computational Chemistry program with co-funding by the Office of International Science and Engineering to carry out research on complex precipitation structures which arise in various inorganic salt systems. The PI and his students have discovered a number of structures including some which mimic biological cells and other life forms. Experimental studies are being conducted on various silicate and carbonate structures that form in a flow system. A substantial international component to this project exists and includes visits by scientists from The University of Szeged in Hungary to Alaska. The Hungarian scientists, experts in modeling the interaction of chemical reaction with diffusion and buoyancy, are helping in the development of computational models of the precipitation processes to probe the underlying mechanism of the formation of these structures. U.S. students from Alaska, including Alaskan Native Americans, will, in turn, visit the Hungarian laboratory with the PI and participate in research in Central Europe. This work is having a broader impact through the investigation of basic chemical processes which may be involved in the origin of life, as well as through the inclusion of students from groups traditionally under-represented in science in an international scientific team.