REU Site in Interdisciplinary Materials Research

非技术部分：南伊利诺伊大学卡本代尔分校的REU站点每年平均为14名本科生（包括2名内部支持的本科生）提供研究机会，每年夏天为期9周。学生将参与广泛定义的材料研究领域的跨学科项目。包括来自不同学科（化学、物理、工程、微生物和材料技术中心）的教师导师，将使REU的学生能够培养在学术和工业研究环境中脱颖而出所需的技能，在这些环境中，跨学科团队是标准的，研究人员必须跨学科有效沟通。学生还将被要求考虑将他们的研究应用于新技术和新设备的制造，他们将有机会向不同的观众展示他们的成果。网站的主要目标包括：(1)树立理工科作为职业选择的正面形象；(2)提供一个培养环境，灌输对讨论和实践科学艺术的信心；(3)提高参与者的口头和书面沟通能力；(4)教授基本研究工具，包括文献检索和现代仪器的操作；(5)培养合作团队的研究方法；(6)增加国内学生的数量。尤其是那些来自代表性不足的群体的人，他们选择从事STEM职业。一份详细的评估计划将评估活动的成功与否。技术部分：该网站将主要从居住在邻近州或密西西比三角洲地区的2年制和4年制机构，以及那些传统上来自代表性不足群体的学生高入学率的机构中招募。参与该网站的学生将学习通过各种社会活动与其他科学家和工程师建立联系，包括每周与教师导师共进午餐，周末去文化、工业和娱乐场所旅行。现有的指导研究项目有望成为材料和相关领域工作的优秀培训基地。学生将接触到科学和工程前沿的各种变革性项目，包括：(1)先进功能材料（石墨烯、二维层状硫族化物、金属氧化物纳米线及功能化结构、无机异质结构、纳米复合材料、纳米级催化剂、新型电子接受材料、电纺纳米纤维等）的合成相关研究；(2)材料表征(通过电子显微镜、固溶态核磁共振波谱、质谱、低温电子、光学/磁传输测量，紫外/可见/红外光谱等),(3)理论/计算研究（其中学生将学习如何通过密度泛函理论计算，分子动力学模拟等来研究材料），以及(4)材料应用，从储能和光伏，到生物传感器和基于纳米颗粒的抗原递送载体。

NON-TECHNICAL PART: The REU Site at Southern Illinois University Carbondale will provide research opportunities for an average of 14 undergraduates per year (including 2 supported internally) for a 9 week period each summer. Students will be involved in interdisciplinary projects in the broadly defined area of materials research. Inclusion of faculty mentors from various disciplines (Chemistry, Physics, Engineering, Microbiology, and the Materials Technology Center) will enable the REU students to develop skills needed to excel in both academic and industrial research environments, where interdisciplinary teams are standard and researchers must communicate effectively across disciplines. Students will also be required to think about the application of their research to new technologies and the manufacturing of new devices, and they will have the opportunity to present their results to a diverse audience. Primary goals of the site include: (1) creating a positive image of science and engineering as a career choice, (2) providing a nurturing environment and instilling a sense of confidence in the art of discussing and practicing science, (3) improving the participants' oral and written communication skills, (4) teaching of basic research tools, including literature searches and the operation of modern instrumentation, (5) fostering a collaborative teamwork approach to research, and (6) increasing the number of domestic students, especially those from underrepresented groups, who choose to pursue STEM careers. A detailed assessment plan will evaluate the success of the activity.TECHNICAL PART: The Site will recruit primarily from 2 and 4-year institutions residing in neighboring states or the Mississippi Delta region, and from those institutions with traditionally high enrollments of students from underrepresented groups. Students participating in the Site will learn to network with other scientists and engineers through various social activities including weekly lunches with faculty mentors and weekend trips to cultural, industrial, and recreational locations. The available mentored research projects promise to be excellent training grounds for working in materials and related fields. Students will be exposed to a variety of transformative projects at the forefront of science and engineering, including: (1) studies related to the synthesis of advanced functional materials (graphene, two-dimensional layered chalcogenides, metal oxide nanowires and functionalized structures, inorganic heterostructures, nanocomposites, nanoscale catalysts, novel electron-accepting materials, electrospun nanofibers, etc.), (2) materials characterization (via electron microscopies, solid- and solution-state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, low-temperature electronic, optical/magnetic transport measurements, ultraviolet/visible/infrared spectroscopies, etc.), (3) theoretical/computational studies (wherein students will learn how to study materials via density functional theory calculations, molecular dynamics simulations, etc.), and (4) materials applications varying from energy storage and photovoltaics, to biosensors and nanoparticle-based antigen-delivery vehicles.