REU Site: Leveraging Computational Tools for Enhancing Engineering Innovation

技术概述：该奖项来自工程教育和中心部门，支持阿拉巴马大学本科生研究经验（REU）现场计划。该计划旨在每年夏季吸引九名本科生参加为期十周的工程研究项目，这些项目具有很强的计算推力。大多数研究项目也有实验部分，无论是直接的还是通过合作，通过将计算研究与实验紧密结合，可以加快工程创新的步伐。通过在本科研究人员的研究生涯早期向他们介绍计算工具，他们将获得更广泛的可用研究技术知识，他们解决问题的方法将得到扩展，他们将对与不同自然现象相关的长度尺度和时间尺度有更深的理解。来自三个不同学术部门的教师导师将参与该计划，因此学生将学习与广泛的工程挑战相关的技术和方法。通过每周的小组会议，邀请研讨会演讲者，以及参观当地设施，学生将开始了解不同建模技术之间的信息传递，他们将熟悉国家高性能计算资源和快速原型技术。最终，这种经验将使学生参与具有挑战性和有意义的基于计算的研究经验，提供丰富的有才华的工程师管道，可以为当前和新兴的工程挑战做出贡献。非技术总结：该奖项来自工程教育和中心部门，支持阿拉巴马大学本科生研究经验（REU）现场计划。该项目每年夏季将有九名本科生参与为期十周的计算工程研究项目。该项目主题与许多国家重点项目相呼应，从材料基因组计划到神经科学和计算生态学的新领域。此外，这些实践经验将使REU学生在未来的研究生研究项目和职业生涯中对他们喜欢的实验/模拟平衡做出更明智的决定。暑期课程旨在帮助REU通过教育学生有关技术转让问题、私营部门计算机研究应用以及长期成功所需的领导技能，在科学和工程领域产生实际影响。为此，将定期与阿拉巴马大学校园内新成立的国家水中心，橡树岭国家实验室进行互动，学生将受益于一对一的领导力指导计划。项目后的可持续性将通过REU学生和在读研究生之间的大哥/大姐配对，以及回访校园完成手稿或进行关键实验来增强。

TECHNICAL SUMMARY:This award from the Division of Engineering Education and Centers supports a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Site program at The University of Alabama. The program is intended to engage nine undergraduate students per summer for ten weeks in engineering research projects that have a strong computational thrust. Most of the research projects also have an experimental component, either directly or through collaboration, and by tightly coupling the computational research with the experiments, the pace of engineering innovation can be enhanced. By introducing undergraduate researchers to computational tools early in their research careers, they will gain a broader knowledge of available research techniques, their problem solving approaches will be expanded, and they will develop a deeper appreciation of the length-scales and time-scales relevant to different natural phenomena. Faculty mentors from three different academic departments will be participating in the program, so students will learn about the techniques and approaches relevant to a wide range of engineering challenges. Through weekly group meetings, invited seminar speakers, and visits to local facilities, the students will begin to understand the information-passing that can be made amongst different modeling techniques, and they will become familiar with national high-performance computing resources and rapid prototype techniques. Ultimately, this experience will engage students in challenging and meaningful computations-based research experiences, providing a rich pipeline of talented engineers that can contribute to current and emerging engineering challenges.NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: This award from the Division of Engineering Education and Centers supports a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Site program at The University of Alabama. The program will engage nine undergraduate students per summer for ten weeks in computational engineering research projects. The program theme resonates with many of the national thrusts, ranging from the Materials Genome Initiative to new frontiers in neuroscience and computational ecology. Furthermore, these hands-on experiences will allow the REU students to make more informed decisions about their preferred balance of experiments/simulations in future graduate research projects and careers. The summer program is designed to help the REU make real-world impacts in science and engineering, by educating students about technology-transfer issues, computer-based research applications in the private sector, and the leadership skills needed for long-term success. To this end, there will be regular interactions with the newly-created National Water Center on The University of Alabama campus, Oak Ridge National Lab, and the students will benefit from a one-on-one leadership coaching program. Post-program sustainability will be enhanced with big-brother/big-sister pairing between REU students and current graduate students, as well as return visits to campus for completing manuscripts or for conducting critical experiments.