REU Site: Nanoscale Materials Science and Engineering at Vanderbilt University

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TECHNICAL SUMMARYWith support from the Division of Materials Research and the Engineering Directorate at the National Science Foundation as well as the Department of Defense ASSURE program, the Vanderbilt Institute for Nanoscale Science and Engineering (VINSE) summer Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program will offer STEM undergraduate students the opportunity to work closely with faculty on forefront research projects in the field of nanoscale science and engineering. VINSE faculty will provide REU students with a true interdisciplinary research experience in an environment where physicists, chemists, biologists, and all engineers collaboratively solve problems and create new scientific understanding. The overarching theme of the research is nano-materials innovation and fabrication. Each student will have access to the VINSE laboratories, which are shared facilities, in addition to working in the affiliated research lab of the VINSE faculty mentor. The REU site will formally educate involved graduate students, postdoctoral associates, and faculty on how to mentor the REU students, to design an appropriate research project, and to form a mutually supportive group identity. The program is designed to build a sense of community among the students and the participating faculty, as well as expose the students broadly to research at the leading edge of nanoscale science and engineering. The program will put strong emphasis on recruiting students from under-represented minority groups and schools with limited STEM research opportunities.NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARYNanoscience and nanotechnology are based on the ability to synthesize, organize, characterize, and manipulate matter systematically at the nanoscale, creating uniquely functional materials which can be inorganic, organic or biological, or a hybrid of any two or more of these. The interdisciplinary nature of nanoscale science and engineering means it inherently involves all of the sciences and engineering, resulting in the need to train students at all levels in an interdisciplinary manner, and this Research Experiences for Undergraduate (REU) site will provide a solid training by combining Vanderbilt University's unique interdisciplinary research opportunities at the nanoscale, with participation in research in a discipline-based experimental laboratory or computational setting. Consequently, students trained through this interdisciplinary summer program will leave with an appreciation of the skills needed to successfully contribute to the emerging disciplines of nanoscience and nanotechnology. The REU students will also be offered the opportunity for training in the integration of research with education and outreach through participation in the Vanderbilt Summer Academy for gifted high school students who have expressed an interest in nanoscience and nanotechnology. The site is supported by both the Division of Materials Research and the Engineering Directorate at the National Science Foundation as well as the Department of Defense ASSURE program.