REU Site: A Summer Experience for Undergraduates Integrating Research, Education, and Career Development in an Interdisciplinary Environment

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This REU site award to the University of Kansas, located in Lawrence, KS, supports the training of 10 students for 10 weeks during the summers of 2020-2022. At this REU site, funded by the Division of Chemistry in the Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorate, Professors David R. Benson, Mikhail V. Barybin, and colleagues engage students with interdisciplinary chemistry research projects, ranging from chemical biology to energy and nanoscience. Students also take part in a range of educational and professional development activities, which include training in the responsible conduct of research and panel discussions on the variety of career options available to chemists. The program serves the broader chemical sciences community by mentoring and training students from primarily undergraduate institutions across the nation, who otherwise have limited opportunities for research experiences, and by encouraging participation of women and members of traditionally underrepresented groups in the sciences, including students with disabilities.Participants select projects from six interdisciplinary research areas ranging from chemical biology, microfluidics and mass spectrometry to materials chemistry, energy and nanoscience to lasers, spectroscopy and molecular dynamics. Examples of projects include the design of organometallic materials relevant to molecular- and opto-electronics, exploring the role of catalyst structure in production of renewable fuels, and development of separation-based sensors for understanding the origins of neurological disorders. Students benefit from the highly collaborative environment provided by the large KU chemical community, close interactions with faculty and graduate student (or postdoctoral) mentors, state-of-the-art facilities, and opportunities to communicate and disseminate their accomplishments in written and oral forms.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.