REU Site: Nanoscale Materials Science and Engineering at Vanderbilt University

非技术描述：范德比尔特纳米科学与工程研究所(VINSE)夏季REU站点将为STEM本科生提供与教师在纳米科学与工程领域的前沿研究项目上密切合作的机会。VINSE教师将在物理学家、化学家、生物学家和所有工程师协作解决问题和创造新的科学理解的环境中为REU学生提供真正的跨学科研究体验。这些研究项目的主要主题将是纳米材料的创新和制造。VINSE的教职员工个人致力于指导REU的学生研究和指导。他们将正式教育相关的研究生、博士后助理和教职员工如何指导REU学生，设计适当的研究项目，并形成相互支持的群体认同。该项目的目的是在学生和参与其中的教职员工之间建立一种社区意识，并让学生广泛接触纳米科学和工程的前沿研究。该项目将非常重视从代表性不足的少数群体和STEM研究机会有限的学校招收学生。技术描述：纳米科学和纳米技术有望以多种方式改变我们的生活(包括前所未有的小而功能强大的医疗和计算设备)，吸引了科学家的想象力、媒体的关注和资助机构的支持，结果是美国联邦政府每年对纳米科学的投资已达到15亿美元，自2001年以来累计投资230亿美元。纳米科学和纳米技术的基础是在纳米尺度上系统地合成、组织、表征和操纵物质的能力，创造出独特的功能材料，可以是无机、有机或生物，也可以是其中任何两种或两种以上的混合体。因此，纳米科学和纳米技术构成了跨越传统不同学科的艰巨挑战。显然，为了满足这些需求，培训未来的科学家和工程师在广泛的纳米技术领域是至关重要的。纳米科学和工程的跨学科性质意味着它本质上涉及包括医学在内的所有科学和工程，因此需要以跨学科的方式培训所有级别的学生。为了实现这一目标，范德比尔特纳米科学与工程研究所(VINSE)的夏季REU站点将为STEM本科生提供与教师在纳米科学与工程领域的前沿研究项目上密切合作的机会。VINSE教师将在物理学家、化学家、生物学家和所有工程师协作解决问题和创造新的科学理解的环境中为REU学生提供真正的跨学科研究体验。

NON-TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION: The Vanderbilt Institute for Nanoscale Science and Engineering (VINSE) summer REU site will offer STEM undergraduate students the opportunity to work closely with faculty on forefront research projects in the field of nanoscale science and engineering. VINSE faculty will provide REU students with a true interdisciplinary research experience in an environment where physicists, chemists, biologists, and all engineers collaboratively solve problems and create new scientific understanding. The overarching theme of the research projects will be nano-materials innovation and fabrication. The VINSE faculty are personally committed to directing the REU student research and mentoring. They will formally educate involved graduate students, postdoctoral associates, and faculty on how to mentor the REU students, to design an appropriate research project, and to form a mutually supportive group identity. The project is designed to build a sense of community among the students and the participating faculty, as well as expose the students broadly to research at the leading edge of nanoscale science and engineering. The project will put strong emphasis on recruiting students from underrepresented minority groups and schools with limited STEM research opportunities. TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION: The promise of nanoscience and nanotechnology to revolutionize our lives in multiple ways (including unprecedentedly small and highly functional medical and computational devices) has captured the imagination of scientists, the attention of the media, and the support of funding agencies, with the result that the U.S. annual federal investment in nanoscience has reached $1.5B/yr, with a cumulative investment since 2001 of $23B. Nanoscience and nanotechnology are based on the ability to synthesize, organize, characterize, and manipulate matter systematically at the nanoscale, creating uniquely functional materials that can be inorganic, organic or biological, or a hybrid of any two or more of these. Consequently, nanoscience and nanotechnology pose formidable challenges that cut across traditionally distinct disciplines. Clearly, to meet these demands, the training of future scientists and engineers in the broad field of nanotechnology is of paramount importance. The interdisciplinary nature of nanoscale science and engineering means it inherently involves all of the sciences and engineering, including medicine, resulting in the need to train students at all levels in an interdisciplinary manner. To achieve this goal the Vanderbilt Institute for Nanoscale Science and Engineering (VINSE) summer REU site will offer STEM undergraduate students the opportunity to work closely with faculty on forefront research projects in the field of nanoscale science and engineering. VINSE faculty will provide REU students with a true interdisciplinary research experience in an environment where physicists, chemists, biologists, and all engineers collaboratively solve problems and create new scientific understanding.