REU Site: A Summer Experience for Undergraduates Integrating Research, Education, and Career Development in an Interdisciplinary Environment

从化学（CHE）的美国国家科学基金会（NSF）的部门这个奖项支持本科生（REU）网站的研究经验在堪萨斯（KU）的大学夏季2016-2018。 大卫教授R.本森指导了这个为期十周的项目，约瑟夫A.赫伯特是联合导演。 十名学生，主要从全国各地的本科院校招募，选择并参加由KU化学系教师领导的个人研究项目。跨学科的研究经验是由职业发展计划，其中包括专业发展活动的补充，在绿色化学与KU中心合作举办的短期课程环境有益的催化，小组讨论和实地考察，使参与者接触到各种职业选择化学家。 该计划服务于更广泛的化学科学界，通过指导和培训学生，否则研究经验的机会有限，并鼓励妇女和传统上代表性不足的群体成员参与科学，包括残疾学生。 可供REU参与者的项目跨越了该部门所代表的全部研究领域。 例子包括检查电子结构对仿生锰配合物反应性的贡献、研究基于奥基材料的结构和电子性质、研究神经系统疾病中的神经递质释放动力学、具有可调性质的可溶性聚合物的合成和表征以及超快激光研究光致变色分子开关的反应动力学。 参与者受益于大型KU化学社区提供的高度协作环境，与教师和研究生（或博士后）导师的密切互动，最先进的设施，以及以书面和口头形式交流和传播其成就的机会。

This award from the Division of Chemistry (CHE) of the National Science Foundation (NSF) supports a Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Site at the University of Kansas (KU) for summers 2016-2018. Professor David R. Benson directs the ten week program, and Professor Joseph A. Heppert is the co-director. Ten students, recruited from primarily undergraduate institutions across the nation, select and participate in individual research projects led by faculty members in the Department of Chemistry at KU. The interdisciplinary research experience is complemented by a career enhancement program that includes professional development activities, a three session short course on green chemistry organized in cooperation with the KU Center for Environmentally Beneficial Catalysis, and panel discussions and field trips that expose the participants to the variety of career options available to chemists. The program serves the broader chemical sciences community by mentoring and training students with otherwise limited opportunities for research experience, and by encouraging participation of women and members of traditionally underrepresented groups in the sciences, including students with disabilities. Projects available to REU participants span the full range of research areas represented in the department. Examples include examination of electronic structure contributions to reactivity in biomimetic manganese complexes, investigations of structure and electronic properties of azulene-based materials, studies of neurotransmitter release dynamics in neurological disease, synthesis and characterization of soluble polymers with tunable properties, and ultra-fast laser studies of reaction dynamics of photochromic molecular switches. Participants benefit from the highly collaborative environment provided by the large KU chemical community, close interactions with faculty and graduate student (or postdoctoral) mentors, state-of-the-art facilities, and opportunities to communicate and disseminate their accomplishments in written and oral forms.