REU Site: A Chemistry REU on Molecular Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CheMIE)

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This Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Site at Texas State University, located in San Marcos, TX, supports the training of 10 students for 10 weeks during the summers of 2018-2020. This site, supported by the Divisions of Chemistry and Materials Research in the Mathematical and Physical Science Directorate, offers research projects in the areas of chemistry, biochemistry, and material science. In addition to student research projects, participants in the REU program attend a course designed to expose them to the entrepreneurial and commercialization aspects of technology. The course allows them to explore how basic research contributes to molecular innovation, entrepreneurship, and economic development in molecular sciences. This unique combination of research and commercialization training provides student participants with a broad understanding of academic and industrial research. The REU program also focuses on the development of emerging scientific professionals through an extensive professional development course that includes seminars, workshops, and panel discussions with topics including scientific communication, ethics in scientific research, and graduate school and career preparation. Participants in the REU are recruited largely from regional primarily undergraduate institutions (PUIs) and provides extensive research experience for participants that would otherwise not be able to participate in undergraduate research. Student participants contribute to research projects that include hybrid metal organic framework materials, fluorescent nanomaterials for biomedical applications, analysis and application studies of biohybrid organic chromophores, and electrophilic carbene studies. Some of the other research projects involve conducting polymer nanocomposite studies, organic halide synthesis, N-substituted alkyne synthesis, and structural and functional studies of RNA binding proteins. The site's distinctive combination of basic research training and an understanding of technology commercialization promotes a novel scientific training environment for participants that contributes to their professional success in academic and industrial research.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.