REU Site: Interdisciplinary Research on Granular and Particulate Materials

该奖项建立了一个新的REU站点，在德克萨斯a&m大学进行为期三年的为期十周的项目。该计划的重点是为26名不同的本科生提供颗粒和颗粒材料的跨学科研究经验。REU的学生将与来自德州农工大学不同科学和工程部门的教师导师合作，研究颗粒状和颗粒状材料的表征、建模和制造。颗粒状和颗粒状材料跨越几个长度尺度，从大块的固体如矿石和岩石到纳米颗粒和超细粉末。了解颗粒材料的行为在其科学、技术相关性及其对社会的影响方面是重要的。例如，大尺寸颗粒在山体滑坡、地震、土壤液化/侵蚀等自然灾害中发挥着重要作用，也有助于提高石油采收率。在长度尺度的另一端，纳米粒子在许多领域都有很大的应用潜力。在这个REU项目中，学生将从事颗粒材料的研究，并接受技术写作、沟通/演示技巧方面的培训，为研究生院的环境做准备，并有机会与来自不同研究小组的同行和专业人士进行互动和交流。该站点由国防部与NSF REU项目合作资助。在美国国家科学基金会内部，该奖项由数学和物理科学部的材料研究部和工程部的工程教育中心部共同资助。

This award establishes a new REU Site for a ten-week program at Texas A&M University for three years. The focus of the program is to provide interdisciplinary research experience on granular and particulate materials for 26 diverse undergraduate students. The REU students will work with faculty mentors from different science and engineering departments at Texas A&M on characterizing, modeling, and fabricating granular and particulate materials. Granular and particulate materials span several length scales, from bulky solids such as ores and rocks to nano-particles and ultra-fine powders. Understanding the behavior of granular materials is important in virtue of their scientific, technological relevance and their impact on society. For example, large-size particles play important roles in natural disasters such as landslides, earthquakes, soil liquefaction/erosion, and are also useful for enhanced oil recovery. At the other end of the length scale, nano-particles present great potential for applications in many fields. In this REU program students will engage in research on granular materials and receive training in technical writing, communication/presentation techniques, preparation for graduate school environment, and have opportunities to interact and network among peers and professionals from different research groups. This site is co-funded by the Department of Defense in partnership with the NSF REU program. Within NSF, this award is jointly funded by the Division of Materials Research in the Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorate and the Division of Engineering Education Centers in the Engineering Directorate.