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

这项由国家科学基金会(NSF)化学部(CHE)颁发的奖项支持堪萨斯大学(KU)2016-2018年夏季的本科生研究体验(REU)网站。大卫·R·本森教授是这个十周项目的负责人，约瑟夫·A·赫伯特教授是该项目的联合导演。十名学生从全国各地的本科院校招募，选择并参与由KU化学系教员领导的个人研究项目。与跨学科研究经验相辅相成的是职业发展计划，其中包括专业发展活动，与科罗拉多大学环境有益催化中心合作组织的三节绿色化学短期课程，以及小组讨论和实地考察，让参与者接触到化学家可用的各种职业选择。该计划为更广泛的化学科学界提供指导和培训，指导和培训有其他有限研究经验的学生，并鼓励妇女和传统上代表性较低的群体成员参与科学，包括残疾学生。可供REU参与者使用的项目涵盖了该部门所代表的所有研究领域。例如，研究仿生锰络合物的电子结构对反应性的贡献，研究基于蔚蓝的材料的结构和电子性质，研究神经疾病中的神经递质释放动力学，合成和表征具有可调性能的可溶聚合物，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的环境，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他们的成就的机会。

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.