REU Site in Interdisciplinary Materials Research

非技术描述：南伊利诺伊大学卡本代尔分校的REU站点将为每年平均14名本科生（包括2名内部支持的本科生）提供每年夏季9周的研究机会。学生将参与广泛定义的材料研究领域的跨学科项目。包括来自不同学科（化学、物理、工程、微生物和材料技术中心）的教师导师，将使REU的学生能够培养在学术和工业研究环境中脱颖而出所需的技能，在这些环境中，跨学科团队是标准的，研究人员必须跨学科有效沟通。学生还将被要求考虑将他们的研究应用于新技术和新设备的制造，并将有机会向不同的观众展示他们的成果。该网站将主要招收居住在邻近州或密西西比三角洲地区的2 /4年制院校，以及那些传统上来自代表性不足群体的学生入学率较高的院校。参与本网站的学生将学习通过各种社会活动与其他科学家和工程师建立联系，包括每周与教师导师共进午餐，周末去文化、工业和娱乐场所旅行。该网站的主要目标包括：(1)创造科学和工程作为职业选择的积极形象。学生们在结束课程时，会更深刻地感受到等待着他们的考验、磨难和回报；(2)提供良好的环境，培养学生对讨论和实践科学的信心；(3)提高参与者？口头和书面沟通能力；(4)基础研究工具教学，包括文献检索和现代仪器操作；(5)培养团队合作的研究方法；(6)增加国内学生的数量，特别是那些来自代表性不足群体的学生，他们选择从事STEM职业。将遵循一项详细的评估计划，以便对我们的努力进行评估。技术描述：与本网站相关的指导研究项目承诺成为材料和相关领域工作的优秀培训基地。学生将接触到各种前沿科学和工程领域的变革性项目，包括：(1)与先进功能材料合成相关的研究（金属有机框架、无机异质结构、薄膜、纳米复合材料、新型电子接受材料、电纺纳米纤维、纳米/微尺度异相催化剂等）；(2)材料表征（通过电子显微镜、固溶态核磁共振谱、质谱、光学/磁输运测量、紫外/可见光/红外/二维红外/拉曼光谱等）；(3)理论/计算研究（其中学生将学习如何通过密度泛函理论计算，分子动力学模拟等研究材料）；(4)各种材料的应用，从储能和光伏，到生物传感器和造影剂，再到用于设备制造的聚合物光刻。该站点由国防部与NSF REU项目合作提供支持。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

NON-TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION: The REU Site at Southern Illinois University Carbondale will provide research opportunities for an average of 14 undergraduates per year (including 2 supported internally) for a 9 week period each summer. Students will be involved in interdisciplinary projects in the broadly defined area of materials research. Inclusion of faculty mentors from various disciplines (Chemistry, Physics, Engineering, Microbiology, and the Materials Technology Center) will enable the REU students to develop skills needed to excel in both academic and industrial research environments, where interdisciplinary teams are standard and researchers must communicate effectively across disciplines. Students will also be required to think about the application of their research to new technologies and the manufacturing of new devices, and will have the opportunity to present their results to a diverse audience. The Site will recruit primarily from 2-/4-year institutions residing in neighboring states or the Mississippi Delta region, as well as those with traditionally high enrollment of students from underrepresented groups. Students participating in this Site will learn to network with other scientists and engineers through various social activities including weekly lunches with faculty mentors and weekend trips to cultural, industrial, and recreational locations. Primary goals of the site include: (1) creating a positive image of science and engineering as a career choice. Students will leave the program with a greater sense of the trials, tribulations, and rewards that await them; (2) providing a nurturing environment and instilling a sense of confidence in the art of discussing and practicing science; (3) improving the participants? oral and written communication skills; (4) teaching of basic research tools, including literature searches and the operation of modern instrumentation; (5) fostering a collaborative teamwork approach to research; and (6) increasing the number of domestic students, especially those from underrepresented groups, who choose to pursue STEM careers. A detailed assessment plan will be followed to enable evaluation of our efforts. TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION: The mentored research projects associated with this Site promise to be excellent training grounds for working in materials and related fields. Students will be exposed to a variety of transformative projects at the forefront of science and engineering, including: (1) studies related to the synthesis of advanced functional materials (metal organic frameworks, inorganic heterostructures, thin films, nanocomposites, novel electron-accepting materials; electrospun nanofibers, nanoscale/microscale heterogeneous catalysts, etc.); (2) materials characterization (via electron microscopies, solid- and solution-state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, optical/magnetic transport measurements, ultraviolet/visible/infrared/two-dimensional-infrared/Raman spectroscopies, etc.); (3) theoretical/computational studies (wherein students will learn how to study materials via density functional theory calculations, molecular dynamics simulations, etc.); and (4) materials applications varying from energy storage and photovoltaics, to biosensors and contrast agents, to polymer lithography for device fabrication. This site is supported by the Department of Defense in partnership with the NSF REU program.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.