REU Site: Research Experience for Undergraduates in Nanohybrid Functional Materials

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NON-TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION: The REU site, Research Experience for Undergraduates in Nanohybrid Functional Materials at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, will bring together students within multidisciplinary teams from electrical and environmental engineering, chemistry, and cell biology. These teams will perform research on fabricated surfaces/structures whose feature size is on the order of tens of nanometers (nm). It is expected that these activities will achieve several key outcomes, including: (1) increased interest in research and development careers in fields such as engineering, physics, biology, and chemistry; (2) increased understanding of the role of interdisciplinary teams in solving complex problems and unique preparation for pursuing graduate studies within an interdisciplinary research environment; (3) increased understanding of the role of research and development in the commercial sector and its relation to national interests; (4) publications with the REU participant as the lead or co-author; and (5) the presentation of REU participants' research results at conferences. The overall objective of the site activities is to develop a pipeline, to train a diverse cadre of future researchers and faculty to continue innovative research ,and to address predicted shortages in the appropriate engineering disciplines. TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION: Underpinning the REU site is the Center for Nanohybrid Functional Materials (CNFM) at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL). Research within the CNFM is organized around three complementary and mutually supporting research themes, as well as the development of research infrastructure through acquisition of specialized instrumentation within a core facility. The first research theme, Nanohybrid Fabrication, focuses on the preparation of highly ordered and spatially coherent 3D nanostructures, their hybridization with chemical or biological sensing elements, and their immobilization or inclusion within polymer matrices. In addition, this theme is also expanding to include preparation of 1- and 2-dimensional semiconductor materials decorated with organic materials. The second research theme, Nanohybrid Characterization and New Sensing Principles, focuses on new characterization and sensing principles based on unique properties of the nanohybrids, including techniques based upon Terahertz to UV ellipsometry. The third research theme, Nanohybrid-based Devices, focuses on potential sensing and separation applications based on molecular interactions within nanohybrid-based devices and 1-D and 2-D semiconductor/organic electronic devices. Students will be introduced into this environment with the primary goal to help the participants develop into effective, independent researchers in an interdisciplinary environment. The research activities are designed not only to develop skills germane to the student's field of study, but also to demonstrate how one project fits into a larger, more complex system. The REU participant will not simply be a "lab helper" who assists graduate students or postdoctoral researchers with laboratory chores, but will have significant and independent responsibilities in the research project.