REU SITE: Research Experience for Undergraduates in Molecular Engineering

芝加哥大学普利兹克分子工程学院（University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering，简称PME）的REU网站“本科生分子工程研究经验”将提高本科生对分子工程的认识、兴趣和保留，让他们成为芝加哥大学普利兹克分子工程学院（PME）创新和跨学科STEM实践社区研究小组的积极成员。PME是一所跨学科的工程学院，围绕社会面临的重大工程挑战组织。研究人员将物理学、化学、生物学和计算方面的进展转化为操纵、转化和组织分子到功能工程系统中，以解决三个主题领域的问题：(I)可持续发展和健康的材料系统，（II）免疫工程和（III）量子工程。REU的参与者将沉浸在这个STEM实践社区中，并在PME使命的核心研究主题中进行真实的研究，以参与和解决现代社会面临的紧迫挑战。学生将参与并促进问题驱动的研究，以促进理解和发展技术技能和科学知识。这些指导的科学经验将促进无法获得STEM资源的参与者以及传统上在STEM中代表性不足的群体的参与和兴趣。通过积极和真实地参与研究，参与专业化和职业发展活动，学生将丰富他们的技能，知识和对STEM的理解，培养科学家和工程师的身份，并为未来在STEM教育和职业发展中取得成功做好准备。普利兹克分子工程学院（PME）是一个围绕分子工程新兴领域组织的转型学术和研究单位：分子和分子组装的操纵和设计，以设计具有新特性和功能的材料。学校采用了开创性的跨学科和问题驱动的方法来进行工程研究和教育，围绕三个突出的研究主题组织(I)可持续发展和健康的材料系统，（II）免疫工程和（III）量子工程。该计划的智力焦点将体现这种跨学科和挑战驱动的焦点。学生将在研究小组和STEM实践社区中沉浸和指导，作为活跃和自主的研究人员，接触到科学研究的智力严密性和兴奋性。学生将体验到该领域的问题驱动和跨学科性质，获得如何将基础科学转化为解决一些社会最大挑战的工具的真实理解，并学习如何有效地将他们的工作传达给学术界内外的受众。教师、研究生和博士后导师将示范最佳实践并促进参与，将研究活动与科学教学和学习相结合，并在学生参与者中培养有弹性的STEM身份。该计划的影响是提高本科生在分子科学与工程方面的学习、意识、兴趣、参与和保留，包括未致力于STEM的早期本科生和无法获得研究经验的本科生。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。

The University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering REU site "Research Experience for Undergraduates in Molecular Engineering" will increase the awareness, interest, and retention of undergraduate students in molecular engineering by immersing them as active members of a research group in the innovative and interdisciplinary STEM community of practice at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (PME). The PME is an interdisciplinary engineering school organized around grand engineering challenges facing society. Researchers translate advances in physics, chemistry, biology, and computation to manipulate, transform, and organize molecules into functioning engineering systems to solve problems in three thematic areas: (I) Materials Systems for Sustainability and Health, (II) Immunoengineering, and (III) Quantum Engineering. REU participants will be immersed within this STEM community of practice and undertake authentic research in research themes that lie at the heart of the PME mission to engage and solve pressing challenges facing modern society. Students will participate in and contribute to problem-driven research to advance understanding and develop technical skills and scientific knowledge. These mentored scientific experiences will promote engagement and interest among participants without access to STEM resources and from traditionally underrepresented groups in STEM. By actively and authentically engaging in research and participating in professionalization and career development activities, students will enrich their skills, knowledge, and understanding of STEM, cultivate an identity as scientists and engineers, and be provided with excellent preparation for future success in STEM education and career tracks.The Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (PME) is a transformational academic and research unit organized around the emerging field of molecular engineering: the manipulation and design of molecules and molecular assemblies to engineer materials with novel properties and functions. The school has adopted a pioneering interdisciplinary and problem-driven approach to engineering research and education organized around three prominent research themes (I) Materials Systems for Sustainability and Health, (II) Immunoengineering, and (III) Quantum Engineering. The intellectual focus of the program will embody this interdisciplinary and challenge-driven focus. Students will be immersed and mentored within research groups, and a STEM community of practice, as active and self-directed researchers exposed to the intellectual rigor and excitement of scientific research. Students will experience the problem-driven and interdisciplinary nature of the field, gain authentic understanding of how basic science can be translated into tools to address some of society’s greatest challenges, and learn how to effectively communicate their work to audiences within and outside of academia. Faculty, graduate students, and postdoctoral mentors will model best practices and foster participation, integrating research activities with science teaching and learning and cultivating a resilient STEM identity among student participants. The impact of the program is to increase the learning, awareness, interest, participation, and retention of undergraduate students in molecular science and engineering, including among early-stage undergraduates uncommitted to STEM and those without access to research experiences.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.