REU Site: Sustainable Energy Alternatives and the Advanced Materials (SEAM)

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Proposal: 0851973PI Name: Sylvia Thomas"This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5)."The renewal REU site award will provide research experiences for 10 undergraduate students each year over a three year period. The students will be engaged in state-of-the-art interdisciplinary research projects in the fields of solar cell characterization, developing nanofibrous and nanospherical conducting polymeric materials for hydrogen storage to be used in mobile applications, renewable production of hydrocarbon and hydrogen fuel production, organic solar cell arrays for on-chip application, and solar energy conversion. The primary emphasis of the program is to encourage talented undergraduate students, in particular women, minorities, persons with disabilities, and community college students, to pursue graduate studies in the interdisciplinary STEM fields. The program provides not only stimulating research opportunities, but it also offers a seminar series, enrichment activities, workshops and journal club sessions on ethical and societal research impacts, graduate education spotlights, and career strategy highlights. Faculty and graduate student mentors will also be afforded professional development opportunities. They will attend a mentoring workshop where they will receive invaluable lessons in skills assessment, providing supportive environments for underrepresented minorities, and mentoring. This REU program will culminate with a Research Summer Fest, where students will participate in a poster session and conduct oral presentations. All REU participants will be encouraged to submit research abstracts and papers to publications and regional and national conferences.In order to accomplish the recruitment goals of the program, the Principal Investigator will work closely with minority and female student organizations, targeted institutions with significant minority student populations and community colleges. This REU program aims to increase the number of US advanced degree holders, especially for underrepresented minorities, females, and an underutilized pool of talent from community colleges. A long-term study will be conducted to investigate the impact of undergraduate research participation on the students' careers.