REU Site: Application of Microscopy and Microanalysis in Multidisciplinary Research

非技术描述：本科生研究体验(REU)网站继续运营，让本科生获得多学科的研究经验。在过去的18年里，这个网站已经成功运营，并获得了女性、少数民族和美国武装部队退伍军人学生的高水平参与。这个REU网站联合了来自不同学科、种族背景和机构的本科生，并提供实践研究经验，帮助他们在科学和工程领域追求职业生涯。这一更新项目扩大了影响，将非传统学生(高中毕业后在开始大学教育之前有延迟)纳入其中。技术描述：REU网站将不同的研究项目联系在一起，以电子显微镜为主要主题，用于多学科的应用。通过集中的暑期项目，参与者获得技术培训，进行独立研究，参观当地的高科技行业，并在REU研讨会上展示他们的研究成果。这些活动从培训周开始，包括关于实验室安全、图书馆数据库搜索和研究生院应用的讲习班。为学生提供使用扫描电子显微镜或聚焦离子束显微镜进行材料和器件表征的强化短期课程。学生们在由机械与材料工程、电气与计算机工程、物理、化学、生物和地质系的教师指导的研究项目中使用这些新获得的技能。人们高度期待REU参与者在离开暑期项目时拥有适用于所有学科的典型技能(电子和离子显微镜)，以及研究对他们的高等教育和职业选择的影响的更广泛的视角。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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.