REU Site: Application of Microscopy and Microanalysis in Multidisciplinary Research

非技术描述：这个本科生研究经验（REU）网站继续运作，使本科生获得多学科研究经验。这个网站已经成功运作了18年，并获得了妇女、少数民族和美国武装部队退伍军人学生的高度参与。这个REU网站将来自不同学科、种族背景和机构的本科生团结在一起，并提供实践研究经验，以帮助他们追求科学和工程方面的职业。这个更新项目通过包括非传统学生（高中毕业后才开始大学教育的学生）扩大了影响。技术描述：REU网站在电子显微镜多学科应用的总体主题下将各种研究项目联系在一起。通过一个集中的暑期项目，参与者获得技术培训，进行独立研究，参观当地高科技产业，并在REU研讨会上展示他们的研究成果。活动以培训周开始，包括实验室安全、图书馆数据库搜索和研究生院申请的讲习班。学生将学习如何使用扫描电子显微镜或聚焦离子束显微镜对材料和器件进行表征。在机械与材料工程、电气与计算机工程、物理、化学、生物和地质等系的教师的指导下，学生将这些新获得的技能用于研究项目。期望REU的参与者在暑期课程中掌握适用于所有学科的基本技能（电子和离子显微镜），并对研究对其高等教育和职业选择的影响有更广泛的认识。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: This Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) site continues its operation to enable undergraduate students to gain multidisciplinary research experience. This site has been successfully operating for the past eighteen years and has achieved a high level of participation from women, minorities, and student veterans of the US Armed Forces. This REU site unites undergraduates from different disciplines, ethnic backgrounds, and institutions, and provides hands-on research experiences to assist them in pursuing careers in science and engineering. This renewal project broadens impact by including nontraditional students (who have a delay after high school graduation before starting their college education). TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION: The REU site ties diverse research projects together under the overarching theme of electron microscopy for multidisciplinary applications. Through a concentrated summer program, the participants obtain technical training, conduct independent research, visit local high-tech industries, and present their research at an REU symposium. The activities begin with a training week including workshops on laboratory safety, library database searches, and graduate school applications. Students are offered an intensive short course in using scanning electron microscope or focused ion beam microscope for material and device characterization. Students use these newly-acquired skills in research projects mentored by faculty from the departments of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and Geology. It is highly anticipated that REU participants leave the summer program with a quintessential skill (electron and ion microscopy) applicable to all disciplines and a broader perspective of the impact of research on their higher education and career choices.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.