IGERT: Nanotechnology for Clean Energy

罗格斯大学和合作伙伴普林斯顿大学将建立一个跨学科的研究生教育、研究和培训项目，重点关注与可持续和负担得起的清洁能源技术相关的科学、技术和政策问题，强调纳米技术的创新。这个IGERT项目将开发和实施一个新的跨学科课程——清洁能源的纳米技术，以基础（纳米尺度）材料科学、物理、化学和电气工程的新课程为特色，具体应用于能源技术的发展。研究生学员将把这种创新培训应用于与选定的非洲机构的一个充满活力的教育交流项目中，促进他们对发展中国家科学和经济发展所涉及的挑战的全球意识和理解的发展。该项目的非洲国际部分的三个目标是：(i)向IGERT学员提供关于远离电网的社区的能源生产和储存挑战的现实观点；（ii）促进面对面和网络交流；（iii）鼓励美国学生，特别是那些来自代表性不足人口的学生，进入科学和工程领域，从事与发展中国家相关的关键现实问题的研究。来自代表性不足群体的优秀本科生将从少数族裔服务机构中积极招募，包括参加罗格斯大学科学与工程研究项目和博士衔接项目的学生，这些项目旨在为学生准备跨学科博士项目的严格要求。这个IGERT项目将有助于促进在纳米技术和国际发展问题方面受过培训的多样化、具有全球意识和科学能力的劳动力的发展，并且还将使学生与国家实验室和工业伙伴密切互动，将科学成果转化为可用的和商业上可行的技术，以解决现实世界的能源需求。IGERT是一项nsf范围内的计划，旨在满足教育美国博士科学家和工程师的挑战，他们具有跨学科背景，所选学科的深厚知识，以及未来职业需求所需的技术，专业和个人技能。该计划旨在通过建立创新的研究生教育和培训模式，在一个超越传统学科界限的合作研究的肥沃环境中，促进研究生教育的文化变革。

This Integrative Graduate Education and Traineeship (IGERT) project at Rutgers University and partner Princeton University will establish an interdisciplinary graduate education, research, and training program focused upon scientific, technical, and policy issues related to sustainable and affordable clean energy technologies, emphasizing innovations in nanotechnology. This IGERT project will develop and implement a new interdisciplinary curriculum, Nanotechnology for Clean Energy, featuring novel courses in fundamental (nanoscale) materials science, physics, chemistry, and electrical engineering with specific applications to energy technology development. Graduate trainees will apply this innovative training in a dynamic educational exchange program with select African institutions, promoting development of their global awareness and understanding of challenges involved in scientific and economic development in the developing world. The three objectives of the African international component of this project are: (i) provide IGERT trainees with realistic perspectives of the challenges of energy generation and storage for communities located far from the grid; (ii) foster face-to-face and cyber-enabled exchanges; and (iii), encourage U.S. students, particularly those from underrepresented populations, to enter science and engineering fields to work on critical, real-world problems of relevance to developing countries. Talented undergraduates from underrepresented groups will be aggressively recruited from minority-serving institutions, including students participating in the Research in Science and Engineering Program and the Bridge to the Doctorate Program at Rutgers, designed to prepare students for the rigors of an interdisciplinary Ph.D. program. This IGERT project will help promote development of a diverse, globally aware, and scientifically capable workforce trained in nanotechnology and international development issues, and will also involve students in close interactions with national laboratories and industry partners to translate scientific results into usable and commercially-viable technologies to address real-world energy needs. IGERT is an NSF-wide program intended to meet the challenges of educating U.S. Ph.D. scientists and engineers with the interdisciplinary background, deep knowledge in a chosen discipline, and the technical, professional, and personal skills needed for the career demands of the future. The program is intended to catalyze a cultural change in graduate education by establishing innovative new models for graduate education and training in a fertile environment for collaborative research that transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries.