REU Site: Materials for Society

非技术描述：材料科学是从现代电子产品到时尚、安全和可回收包装、更快和更省油的车辆、新型能源生产和存储、航空航天推进系统、经济适用房、医疗工程、传感器、纳米技术和微型机械等一切事物背后的使能技术。科学和政策制定中最令人兴奋的方向之一是可持续发展，其重点是能源节约、储存和可再生生产。本科研究体验（REU）网站的目标是提供真实的，密集的研究团队体验，同时探索主题为“社会材料”的活动。通过高度敬业的教师导师使用行业和研究生院重视的最先进的生产、表征和测试设备，在各种材料相关领域进行培训，学生可以更好地为未来从事stem工作的劳动力做好准备。包括来自不同学科的导师，使学生能够培养在跨学科团队是标准的学术和工业研究环境中脱颖而出所需的技能。该网站享有代表性不足群体的高水平参与，特别是女性和西班牙裔学生，并帮助所有参与者发展成为专业人士。学生们最终会在年度夏季研究会议上展示他们的成果。该网站还包含了教师研究体验（RET）组件，有助于将研究与教育相结合，并使学生和教师的利益成倍增加。包括教师开发的课程计划在内的网络资源被维护为学生、教师和教职员工的资源。技术细节：这个为期9周的REU网站的目标是为本科生和教师提供一个具有最先进设施的密集研究团队经验，同时探索主题为“社会材料”的活动。用于提供这种体验的项目是高度跨学科的，使学生能够接触到科学和工程的前沿。这些活动通常可以分为四大类中的一个（或多个）：能源产生（例如，太阳能电池，磁性形状记忆合金，热电），能量储存（例如，钠离子电池，建筑系统），能源节约（例如，碳纳米电子学），或与材料加工-建模-表征相关的其他社会挑战（例如，材料基因组倡议）。参与者有自己的个性化项目，但也融入了全校范围内的跨学科暑期研究社区，培训他们既能有效地进行跨学科沟通，又能更清楚地理解自己工作的核心概念。学生还参加了一些关于实验室安全、图书馆资源、知识产权、道德和沟通的补充讲习班；他们最终在一年一度的爱达荷大学本科研究会议（ICUR）上展示了他们的研究结果。一个全面的评估程序被用来衡量参与者的学习和成长，以及他们的信心，对REU经验的满意度，以及影响他们对实验室环境和研究总体看法的因素。特别感兴趣的是参与者在夏季研究经历中形成的关系的发展和好处。为此，社会网络分析（SNA）方法被用于探索和表征参与者在其研究经历过程中形成的关系和关系网络。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: 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.