REU Site: ChemE-NYC: Climate and Health Solutions

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This Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Site in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Columbia University will engage undergraduates recruited from across the country in summer research experiences. Students will apply engineering science fundamentals to address problems related to climate and human health and conduct research with close collaboration and mentorship from faculty and graduate students. Students will engage in individualized projects on problems ranging from battery characterization to air pollution to organelle synthesis. The program will include a seminar series to showcase faculty explaining how their research applies the fundamentals of physics, chemistry, biology, and engineering to create climate and health solutions. Students will also participate in events to experience the rich entrepreneurial opportunities in New York City, as well as learn about graduate school applications and effective scientific communication. Particular attention will be paid to recruiting students from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), other Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs), women’s colleges and colleges with limited research opportunities.This REU Site focuses on chemical engineering research, graduate opportunities in STEM, and life in New York City. The student population targeted is underrepresented minority (URM) and female undergraduates. Students will have access to cutting-edge research facilities related to electrochemical energy, soft matter, catalysis, in situ battery characterization, air pollution data sets, and biomolecular engineering. Seminars, workshops, and activities in NYC will be used to create an effective and inclusive research environment and experience for the students. Students will pursue individual, hypothesis-driven projects related to climate and health solutions. Research projects will sharpen their understanding of thermodynamics, kinetics, transport phenomena, and reactor engineering, and learn new experimental and computational methods. An end-of-summer symposium will build the REU students’ abilities in scientific communication. This REU site seeks to recruit URM and female undergraduates, building upon relationships with HBCUs, MSIs and women’s colleges. The research experience will help students better understand what chemical engineering and graduate studies in STEM entail, as well as learn science and techniques critical to climate and health-related research.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.