REU Site: Experimental and Computational Modeling of Materials and Biomolecular Systems

该奖项全部或部分由《2021年美国救援计划法案》（公法117-2）资助。这个本科生研究经验（REU）网站奖授予位于犹他州盐湖城的犹他大学，在2022年至2024年的夏季继续为9名学生提供为期10周的培训计划。在这个项目中，参与者将在经验丰富和忠诚的导师的指导下从事前沿研究项目，解决能源、健康、环境和教育领域一系列具有挑战性的化学相关问题。参与者还将参加专业发展活动，以提高数据分析和计算技能，培养科学沟通技能，为研究生院和现代STEM职业做好准备。通过提供丰富的研究经验，包括队列建设、导师培训、研讨会、研究生院小型博览会和研究会议，该网站将扩大对STEM的参与，并加强犹他大学与其他当地学校之间的联系。参与者将推进研究项目，重点是化学各个领域的模型构建、数据分析和计算。这些项目包括基于溶液种类的晶体结构预测；发现细菌感觉域的化学配体；沸石水热合成模拟；并通过电化学和模拟研究了氮酶的活性。为了支持他们项目的数据分析和建模方面，学生们将参加由高性能计算中心举办的一系列夏季研讨会。为了增加STEM（科学、技术、工程和数学）渠道的多样性，该REU网站将努力从当地社区学院和全国主要本科院校（PUIs）中代表性不足的群体中招收学生。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。

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).This Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) site award to the University of Utah, located at Salt Lake City, UT, continues a training program for 9 students for 10 weeks during the summers of 2022-2024. In this program, participants will pursue cutting-edge research projects under the guidance of experienced and committed mentors, addressing a range of challenging chemistry-related problems in energy, health, environment, and education. Participants will also take part in professional development activities to enhance skills in data analysis and computation, develop scientific communication skills, and prepare for graduate schools and modern STEM careers. By providing research experiences enriched by cohort building, mentor training, workshops, a graduate school mini expo, and a research conference, this site will broaden participation in STEM and strengthen ties between the University of Utah and other local schools.Participants will advance research projects with an emphasis on model building, data analysis, and computation from all areas of chemistry. These projects include crystal structure prediction based on solution species; discovering chemical ligands of bacterial sensory domains; modeling the hydrothermal synthesis of zeolites; and studies of nitrogenase activity by electrochemistry and simulation. To support the data analysis and modeling aspects of their projects, students will participate in a series of summer workshops run by the Center for High Performance Computing. To increase diversity in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) pipeline, this REU site will endeavor to recruit students from underrepresented groups at local community colleges and primarily undergraduate institutions (PUIs) from around the nation.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.