REU Site: Bio and Soft Matter Research Training (B-SMaRT)

REU 站点：生物和软物质研究培训 (B-SMaRT)

• 批准号: 1359191
• 负责人: Jennifer Ross
• 金额: $ 32万
• 依托单位: University of Massachusetts Amherst
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-03-01 至 2018-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1359191&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: REU; Site; Bio; Soft; Matter

ID: 1359191 PI: Ross, Jennifer ORG: University of Massachusetts-AmherstTitle: REU Site: Bio and Soft Matter Research Training (B-SMaRT)TECHNICAL SUMMARYThe scientific theme of this 10 week Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) is Soft and Biological Materials. Teaming up with Springfield Technical Community College (STCC), the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass) will train undergraduates in both experimental and theoretical aspects of soft and biological materials. Such materials make up most of the world around us from plastic sheets and our human skin to snow piles and cells all inhabiting similar energy scales while existing from the nanoscale to the macroscopic. The objectives of this REU are to: (1) Recruit more students from STCC to UMass for transfer into Physics. (2) Recruit and increase retention of under-represented populations of students from STCC to UMass in STEM majors through early exposure to research. (3) Inspire and motivate students to pursue graduate studies in soft matter and biological physics. (4) Train students to become independent researchers who will thrive in collaborative research and excel in connecting experiment to theory. (5) Train students in scientific communication skills, with a focus on interdisciplinary communication between physics and the life sciences. (6) Provide students with strategies for professional success through a Professional Development Seminar covering career paths, ethics, diversity in the workplace, identifying mentors, interdisciplinary communication, team-building, and development of collegial relationships. Students will be oriented through specific bootcamps in scientific research, experimental methods, and theoretical and computational methods. Scientific and professional development workshops will be held through the summer to educate and train students in scientific reasoning and problem solving skills and give them valuable social skills such as communication and presentation skills. The program will assess learning gains for scientific and social skills before and after the 10 week session and will also evaluate the students' attitudes towards science, physics, and soft and biological materials science.NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY The University of Massachusetts Amherst together with Springfield Technical Community College is hosting the Biological and Soft Matter Research Traineeships (B-SMaRT) REU Site. Biological and soft materials are all around us. Look out your window and you may see snow or sand piling up. Look at your coffee cup and you will see coffee stains. Look at your skin and you will see it elastically wrinkle and deform as your muscles move. Although these examples may seem unimportant because they are everyday occurrences, the mechanical and dynamical properties of these systems are still not understood at fundamental levels. Understanding seemingly mundane systems opens us to understanding of fundamental and important questions about how to prevent grain silo deaths, how to clean up oil spills, how to make self-folding robots on the microscale, and how to fight diseases. The program will endeavor to engage students in the fundamental aspects of physics through these interesting, yet accessible physical problems of the everyday world. Furthermore, due to the accessible nature of these problems, students can be exposed to true research experiences in soft and biological materials and learn techniques of both experiment and theory.

ID：1359191 PI：Ross, Jennifer ORG：马萨诸塞大学阿默斯特分校标题：REU 站点：生物和软物质研究培训 (B-SMaRT) 技术摘要这个为期 10 周的本科生研究体验 (REU) 的科学主题是软材料和生物材料。 马萨诸塞大学阿默斯特分校 (UMass) 与斯普林菲尔德技术社区学院 (STCC) 合作，将为本科生提供软材料和生物材料实验和理论方面的培训。 这些材料构成了我们周围世界的大部分，从塑料片和人类皮肤到雪堆和细胞，它们都具有相似的能量尺度，同时存在从纳米尺度到宏观尺度。 REU 的目标是： (1) 招收更多来自 STCC 的学生到麻省大学转入物理专业。 (2) 通过早期接触研究，招募并提高从 STCC 到麻省大学 STEM 专业的学生群体的保留率。 （3）启发和激励学生攻读软物质和生物物理方面的研究生。 (4) 培养学生成为独立的研究人员，他们将在协作研究中茁壮成长，并擅长将实验与理论联系起来。 （5）培养学生科学沟通能力，重点是物理学与生命科学之间的跨学科交流。 (6) 通过专业发展研讨会为学生提供职业成功的策略，涵盖职业道路、道德、工作场所多样性、寻找导师、跨学科沟通、团队建设和同事关系发展。 学生将通过科学研究、实验方法以及理论和计算方法的特定训练营进行定向。 整个夏季将举办科学和专业发展研讨会，教育和培训学生科学推理和解决问题的技能，并赋予他们宝贵的社交技能，例如沟通和表达技能。 该计划将评估为期 10 周的课程前后科学和社交技能的学习收获，还将评估学生对科学、物理以及软材料和生物材料科学的态度。 非技术摘要 马萨诸塞大学阿默斯特分校与斯普林菲尔德技术社区学院共同主办生物和软物质研究实习生 (B-SMaRT) REU 网站。 生物材料和软材料就在我们周围。 向窗外看去，您可能会看到积雪或沙子。 看看你的咖啡杯，你会看到咖啡渍。 观察你的皮肤，你会发现它随着肌肉的移动而弹性地起皱和变形。 尽管这些例子看起来并不重要，因为它们是日常发生的，但这些系统的机械和动力学特性仍然没有从根本上得到理解。 了解看似平凡的系统使我们能够理解基本而重要的问题，例如如何防止粮仓死亡、如何清理石油泄漏、如何制造微型自折叠机器人以及如何对抗疾病。 该计划将努力通过日常生活中这些有趣且易于理解的物理问题，让学生了解物理学的基本方面。 此外，由于这些问题的易于理解的性质，学生可以接触到软材料和生物材料的真实研究经验，并学习实验和理论技术。