REU Site: Materials for Society

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NON-TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION: Materials science is the enabling technology behind everything from modern electronics to fashion, safe and recyclable packaging, faster and fuel-efficient vehicles, novel energy generation and storage, aerospace propulsion systems, affordable housing, medical engineering, sensors, nanotechnology, and micromachines. One of the most exciting directions in science and policy-making is sustainability, with its emphasis on energy conservation, storage, and renewable production. The objective of this Research Experiences for Undergraduate (REU) Site is to provide an authentic, intensive research-team experience while exploring activities within the theme “materials for society.” Students are better prepared for employment as tomorrow’s STEM-engaged workforce via training in a variety of materials-related fields by highly engaged faculty mentors using state-of-the-art production, characterization, and testing equipment valued by industry and graduate schools. Inclusion of mentors from various disciplines enables students to develop skills needed to excel in both academic and industrial research environments, where interdisciplinary teams are standard. The Site enjoys a high level of participation from underrepresented groups, especially women and Hispanic students, and helps all participants develop as professionals. Students ultimately present their results at the annual summer research conference. The Site incorporates a Research Experience for Teachers (RET) component as well, aiding the integration of research with education and multiplying the benefit to both students and teachers. A web resource including teacher-developed lesson plans is maintained as a resource for students, teachers, and faculty everywhere.TECHNICAL DETAILS: The objective of this 9-week REU Site is to provide undergraduates and teachers an intensive research-team experience with state-of-the-art facilities while exploring activities within the theme “materials for society.” The projects used to deliver this experience are highly interdisciplinary, allowing students to be exposed to the forefront of science and engineering. The activities can be generally categorized into one (or more) of four broad categories: energy generation (e.g., solar cells, magnetic shape-memory alloys, thermoelectrics), energy storage (e.g., sodium-ion batteries, building systems), energy conservation (e.g., carbon nanoelectronics), or other societal challenges associated with materials processing-modeling-characterization (e.g., materials genome initiative). Participants have their own individualized projects but are also integrated within a campus-wide interdisciplinary summer research community, training them to both communicate effectively across disciplines and more clearly understand the concepts central to their own work. Students also participate in a number of supplemental workshops on lab safety, library resources, intellectual property, ethics, and communication; and they ultimately present their results at the annual Idaho Conference on Undergraduate Research (ICUR). A comprehensive assessment program is used to gauge the learning and growth of participants as well as their confidence, satisfaction with the REU experience, and the factors which influence their perceptions of the lab environment and research generally. Of particular interest is the development and benefits of the relationships that participants form during their summer research experiences. Toward that end, a social network analysis (SNA) approach is used to explore and characterize the relationships and relational networks that participants form over the course of their research experience.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.