REU Site: Interdisciplinary Research on Granular and Particulate Materials

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This award establishes a new REU Site for a ten-week program at Texas A&M University for three years. The focus of the program is to provide interdisciplinary research experience on granular and particulate materials for 26 diverse undergraduate students. The REU students will work with faculty mentors from different science and engineering departments at Texas A&M on characterizing, modeling, and fabricating granular and particulate materials. Granular and particulate materials span several length scales, from bulky solids such as ores and rocks to nano-particles and ultra-fine powders. Understanding the behavior of granular materials is important in virtue of their scientific, technological relevance and their impact on society. For example, large-size particles play important roles in natural disasters such as landslides, earthquakes, soil liquefaction/erosion, and are also useful for enhanced oil recovery. At the other end of the length scale, nano-particles present great potential for applications in many fields. In this REU program students will engage in research on granular materials and receive training in technical writing, communication/presentation techniques, preparation for graduate school environment, and have opportunities to interact and network among peers and professionals from different research groups. This site is co-funded by the Department of Defense in partnership with the NSF REU program. Within NSF, this award is jointly funded by the Division of Materials Research in the Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorate and the Division of Engineering Education Centers in the Engineering Directorate.