IRES Track I: Characterization and Modeling of Grain Boundaries in Hexagonal and Body Centered Cubic Alloys: Linking Processing and Properties

拟议的NSF IRES计划将为19名从事材料科学和工程研究的学生提供支持。 这些学生将与西班牙马德里的IMDEA材料研究所（IMDEA）进行国际合作研究。 每年，7名学生将花7周的时间研究加工过程中晶界的形成和演变及其对六方和体心立方（BCC）合金性能的影响。 IMDEA导师是物理和机械冶金以及先进合金建模领域的世界领导者，该计划专注于六方镁合金的开发，该合金旨在应用于交通和生物医学行业。 参与IRES的学生将获得先进的计算和实验方法的经验，在国际环境中展示他们的研究，撰写报告和手稿在科学期刊上发表，并与来自世界各地的科学家在西班牙建立专业和个人网络。 鉴于IMDEA在西班牙科学及其与行业的互动中的突出地位，IMDEA非常有能力为学生提供新的视角，为他们未来与欧洲机构合作的各种职业做好准备。 根据他们在MSU的经验，该计划将使学生接触到不同的研究方法以及不同文化中的日常生活。 在马德里的步行图尔斯之旅和到附近城市的短途旅行将包括在该计划沿着由IMDEA导师监督的其他文化活动。 该计划的更广泛的影响将超出参与学生的数量，并将包括以下内容：该计划是更大的推动力的一部分，使海外教育机会成为密歇根州立大学（MSU）本科和研究生教育的一个组成部分，为目前缺乏的未来研究密集型海外教育机会提供管道。 参与学生带回MSU的经验和合作将促进MSU国际化，多元化和包容性文化的发展，这是MSU工程学院和更大大学的高度优先事项。 学生将从事创新项目，涉及凝固实验和建模，原位微观结构表征技术，变形及其建模，以及加工-微观结构-性能关系的先进概念。 这些项目的统一主题是表征和建模晶界。 这些项目通过严格的基于结构和机制的方法联系在一起，学生可以使用先进的实验和计算工具来检查假设。 学生们的贡献将为设计六方和BCC金属的目标属性和应用带来新的见解。 建议工作的智力价值在于理解六方和BCC合金的加工-微观结构-性能关系，以帮助生产具有工业应用吸引力的性能平衡的多晶微观结构。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力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 proposed NSF IRES program will provide support for 19 students pursuing research in materials science and engineering. These students will engage in collaborative international research with the IMDEA Materials Institute (IMDEA) in Madrid, Spain. Each year, 7 students will spend 7 weeks performing research on grain boundary formation and evolution during processing and its effects on the properties of hexagonal and body centered cubic (BCC) alloys. The IMDEA mentors are world leaders in physical and mechanical metallurgy, and modeling of advanced alloys, and the program focuses on the development of hexagonal magnesium alloys, which are targeted for application in the transportation and biomedical industries. The participating IRES students will gain experience with advanced computational and experimental methods, present their research in an international setting, write reports and manuscripts for publication in scientific journals, and build professional and personal networks in Spain with scientists from all over the world. Given the prominence of IMDEA in Spanish science and its interactions with industry, IMDEA is uniquely-positioned to provide students with new perspectives to prepare them for a variety of future careers in which collaborations with European agencies are desirable. Building on their experiences at MSU, this program will expose students to a different approach to research as well as to everyday life in a different culture. Walking tours in Madrid and excursions to nearby cities will be included in the program along with other cultural activities supervised by the IMDEA mentors. The broader impacts of the program will extend beyond the number of participating students and will include the following: This program is part of a larger push to make education abroad opportunities an integral part of undergraduate and graduate education at Michigan State University (MSU) offering a pipeline for future research-intensive educational abroad opportunities that are currently lacking. The experiences and collaborations the participating students bring back to MSU will enhance the development of an international, diverse, and inclusive culture at MSU, which is a high priority within the MSU College of Engineering and the greater university. The students will work on innovative projects that involve advanced concepts in solidification experiments and modeling, in-situ microstructural characterization techniques, deformation and its modeling, and processing-microstructure-property relationships. The unifying theme of these projects is characterizing and modeling grain boundaries. The projects are tied together by a rigorous structure- and mechanism-based approach whereby students examine hypotheses using advanced experimental and computational tools. The students’ contributions will bring new insights to designing hexagonal and BCC metals for targeted properties and applications. The intellectual merit of the proposed work lies in understanding processing-microstructure-property relations of hexagonal and BCC alloys to help produce polycrystalline microstructures with a balance of properties that are attractive for industrial applications.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.