IRES: Collaborative Research in Europe on Liquid Crystals (CRELIC-IRES)

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AbstractJakli0727185This award provides support for a proposal submitted by Antal Jakli, of the Liquid Crystal Institute at Kent State University, to the 2007 OISE International Research Experiences for Students (IRES) program. It is titled "International Collaborative Research in Europe on Liquid Crystals."It involves an international research experience for nine undergraduate and graduate students in research on liquid crystal fibers, liquid crystal gels and elastomers, and liquid crystals with biological importance over three years. The research projects will be carried out in the Department of Materials Sciences of the New University of Lisbon in Portugal, the Institute of Experimental Physics at the University of Magdeburg in Germany, and at the Research Institute for Solid State Physics and Optics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Budapest, Hungary.Intellectual Merit. The intellectual merit of the project will be the new knowledge acquired about liquid crystal fibers, elastomers, and their biological relevance. These subjects will be investigated by students working with internationally recognized foreign scientists in three well-known institutions. The different results will be compared, combined, and analyzed in a meeting of the PI and the students at the end of the international research experience. Broader Impacts. The students will learn how to collaborate at the scientific and at the international level, and will also learn the culture of the foreign countries and of different academic traditions in each of the three countries. The students ill also be actively involved in the publication process in the form of presentations, reports, and papers for publication. Work from each of the three research topics is expected to lead to cutting edge technologies such as artificial muscles, artificial nerves, better understanding of the electrical transport processes in cell membranes, and making smart textiles.