REU Site: nano@illinois REU--Summer Nanotechnology Research Experience for Undergraduates

技术概述：该项目的目的是在美国国家科学基金会工程教育和中心分部的支持下，在伊利诺伊大学厄巴纳-香槟分校建立一个纳米技术领域的REU站点。参与该项目的学生将被嵌入一个丰富的环境中，提供广泛的纳米技术领域的综合研究和教育经验，从纳米电子学到纳米光子学，纳米材料和纳米生物技术。最终目标是巩固学生对研究生研究和教育的兴趣，并为国家劳动力管道的多样性做出贡献，通过设计的经验，不仅让参与者接触到纳米技术的前沿和跨学科技术方面，而且还注入批判性思维，领导能力，沟通，团队建设和道德培训。此外，评估和评价活动将贯穿整个项目，以确定各种培训组成部分的有效性，并对学生进行纵向跟踪，以确定项目对个人、机构和整个领域的影响。REU项目每年将邀请10名国内本科生（从大二到大四）在伊利诺伊大学校园参加为期10周的暑期课程，将一系列共同活动（入学指导、研讨会和讲习班）与该项目附属实验室的个性化体验结合起来。学生每周至少花30个小时与教师和研究生导师一起做研究，并将充分参与正常的实验室活动，参加小组会议，进行文献综述，进行实验和模拟，并记录实验室笔记。根据参与者的兴趣分配研究课题，代表性项目可能包括：设计用于活细胞传感的等离子体纳米粒子；通过固体纳米孔进行DNA测序；光子用纳米孔共形膜的设计与制备纳米系统中电荷输运的模拟。在课程的第十周，学生们将参加全校范围内的伊利诺伊夏季研究研讨会，在那里学生们将展示他们的研究成果。非技术总结：纳米技术是一个广泛的跨学科领域，它有望解决重大挑战问题，提高生活质量，为经济增长提供新的机会。纳米技术的进步需要具备技术知识和跨学科技能的合格劳动力。该项目的目的是在美国国家科学基金会工程教育和中心部门的支持下，在伊利诺伊大学厄巴纳-香槟分校建立一个纳米技术领域的REU站点。每年夏天，该项目将招收来自全国各地的十名不同的国内本科生参加为期十周的暑期课程，该课程将一系列常见的专业发展活动与研究实验室的个性化体验相结合。其目标是通过在纳米科学和工程领域令人兴奋的前沿领域的早期体验，提供选择研究专业道路的动力。通过在领先的纳米技术实验室进行实践活动，学生将有机会与教师和研究生导师一起工作，为开发新材料做出贡献，这些材料可以使电子芯片进一步小型化，或者为个性化医疗的诊断和治疗制造新型传感器。

TECHNICAL SUMMARY:The purpose of this project is to establish an REU site in the area of nanotechnology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with support from the NSF Division of Engineering Education and Centers. Students participating in the program will be embedded in a rich environment providing integrated research and educational experiences in a wide range of nanotechnology areas, from nanoelectronics to nanophotonics, nanomaterials and nanobiotechnology. The ultimate goal is to solidify the students' interest in graduate research and education and contribute to the diversity of the national workforce pipeline, through experiences designed not only to expose the participants to cutting edge and interdisciplinary technical aspects of nanotechnology but also to infuse critical thinking, leadership, communication, team-building, and ethics training. Additionally, the assessment and evaluation activities will be embedded throughout the program to determine the effectiveness of the various training components and students will be tracked longitudinally to determine the impact of the program on individuals, institutions and the field as a whole. The REU program will engage ten domestic undergraduate students (rising sophomores to rising seniors) in a ten week summer curriculum on the University of Illinois campus each year, combining a range of common activities (orientations, seminars and workshops) with personalized experiences in the laboratories affiliated with this effort. Students will spend at least 30 hours per week doing research with faculty and graduate student mentors, and will be fully engaged in normal laboratory activities attending group meeting performing literature reviews, running experiments and simulations and keeping laboratory notebooks. Research topics will be assigned matching the interest of the participants and representative projects may include: design of plasmonic nanoparticles for live cell sensing; DNA sequencing through solid state nanopores; design and fabrication of nano-porous conformal films for photonic applications; simulation of charge transport in nanosystems. Capstone of the experience will be participation, during the tenth week of the program, in the campus-wide Illinois Summer Research Symposium where students will present the results of their work.NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY:Nanotechnology is a broad interdisciplinary field which holds the promise to address grand challenge problems, leading to the improvement of quality of life and providing new opportunities for economic growth. Progress in nanotechnology needs the availability of a qualified workforce with technical knowledge and interdisciplinary skills. The purpose of this project is to establish an REU site in the area of nanotechnology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with support from the NSF Division of Engineering Education and Centers. The program will engage each summer a diverse group of ten domestic undergraduate students recruited around the country for a ten week summer curriculum which combines a range of common professional development activities with personalized experiences in research laboratories. The goal is to provide, through an early experience in exciting cutting-edge areas of nanoscience and engineering, the motivation to choose a professional path in research. Through hands-on activities embedded in leading nanotechnology laboratories, students will have the opportunity to work next to faculty and graduate student mentors, contributing to the development of new materials that could enable further miniaturization of electronics chips or fabricating novel sensors for diagnostics and therapeutics in personalized medicine.