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

该奖项由美国国家科学基金会（NSF）化学部（CHE）颁发，支持2016-2018年夏季堪萨斯大学（KU）本科生研究经验（REU）站点。David R. Benson教授指导这个为期10周的项目，Joseph A. Heppert教授是联合主任。从全国主要本科院校招收的10名学生，选择并参与由堪萨斯大学化学系教师领导的个人研究项目。跨学科的研究经验由职业提升计划补充，包括专业发展活动，与堪萨斯大学环境有益催化中心合作组织的绿色化学三节短期课程，小组讨论和实地考察，使参与者了解化学家的各种职业选择。该项目通过指导和培训获得研究经验机会有限的学生，以及鼓励妇女和传统上代表性不足的群体成员（包括残疾学生）参与科学领域，为更广泛的化学科学界提供服务。提供给REU参与者的项目涵盖了该部门所代表的所有研究领域。例如，研究电子结构对仿生锰配合物反应性的影响，研究azulen基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质的可溶性聚合物，以及超快激光对光致变色分子开关反应动力学的研究。参与者受益于堪萨斯大学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.