REU site in Mechanical Engineering: Energy and the Environment (ME3)

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The REU Site in Mechanical Engineering: Energy and the Environment (ME3) hosted by the University of Minnesota (UMN) Department of Mechanical Engineering will provide a diverse cohort of undergraduate students opportunities to engage in engineering research with a focus on energy and the environment complimented by ambitious intergenerational mentoring and professional development opportunities. Due to the Department's multidisciplinary areas, student research projects are focused on these topics: air quality, water quality, or energy generation, storage, and transmission. Each project has valuable societal benefit and contributions, for example: clean water through materials development, reduced air pollution through studies of combustion and gas turbines, and energy savings through hybrid wind technology. The 10-week summer research program will host 10 college sophomores and juniors with a focus on recruiting from traditionally under-represented segments of the engineering population including women, racial and ethnic minorities, persons with disabilities, and those from colleges without traditional research opportunities. The ME3 program objectives are to: offer hands-on research experience in state-of-the-art laboratory and computing facilities related to energy and the environment, articulate the relationship between research and how it impacts daily life, expose students to mechanical engineering research and student life at a major research university, establish a team mentoring relationship between REU students, graduate students, and faculty, and encourage students to consider graduate school in engineering. The program emphasis on mentoring can lead to a more diverse workforce, not just for the immediate REU participants, but the impact of those participants as future mentors in their own careers. Students will review technical literature, use computer-aided design software, mathematical modeling, fabrication, and experimental testing. The research and professional development activities will help students develop lifelong skills including critical thinking, teamwork, and effective communication. REU students will also give regular project updates to their research teams through weekly progress reports. At the end of the summer, students participate in a campus-wide REU Research Symposium coordinated by the UMN's Office for Equity and Diversity. REU alumni will be surveyed annually to obtain post-experience impact related to their academic progress and professional pathway. A LinkedIn network will be established to maintain contact with REU alumni.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.