REU Site: From Bench to Market: Engineering Systems for High Efficiency Separations

阿肯色大学（UA）新的为期三年的本科生研究经验（REU）现场项目，从实验室到市场：高效分离的工程系统，将为多样化的本科生提供在实验室进行创新分离研究的研究机会。化学和制药制造的成本主要是分离过程的成本，以获得纯净的产品。事实上，据估计，高达10-15%的世界能源预算和90%的药品制造成本是由分离过程造成的。分离过程（从混合物中回收和纯化感兴趣的化合物）对现代社会的几乎每个方面都是必不可少的，包括：饮用水，治疗，食品和饮料。每年将选出10名本科生，在阿肯色大学校园内一位成功教师的实验室里进行10周的研究。此外，学生将参加商业化评估培训系列，这将使他们在早期阶段就考虑传统假设驱动研究的潜在商业化。通过这些经验，学生将参与开发和实施分离领域的尖端技术。学生将离开REU课程，了解学术研究和商业化如何协同工作，以解决人文学科的重大挑战。这个REU网站的总体目标是教本科生创建和执行涉及分离的研究计划，同时让他们了解定义和评估项目商业潜力所需的技能。参与者将在一个研究实验室工作10周，专注于分离技术和/或材料的开发，同时他们也将通过基于NSF I-Corps精益画布方法的定制设计商业化系列进行指导。除了成功的分离研究人员外，学生还将与行业导师配对，以获得独特的培训机会，使他们接触到研究的整个生命周期。这些活动的结合将使学生成为化学、生物医学和制药行业的领导者。未来的REU学生将利用一个多样化的网络招募，包括乔治华盛顿卡弗项目和拥有大量印第安人的学校。

This new three year Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Site program, From Bench to Market: Engineering Systems for High Efficiency Separations, at the University of Arkansas (UA) will provide a diverse cohort of undergraduate students with research opportunities in laboratories that focus on innovative separations research. The cost of chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturing is dominated by the cost of separation processes to obtain a pure product. In fact, it is estimated that up to 10-15% of the world energy budget and 90% of pharmaceutical manufacturing costs are due to separation processes. Separations processes (where compounds of interest are recovered and purified from a mixture) are essential for almost every aspect of modern society, including: drinking water, therapeutics, food, and beverages. Ten undergraduate students will be selected each year to spend 10 weeks on the University of Arkansas campus performing research in the laboratory of a successful faculty member. In addition, students will participate in a commercialization assessment training series that will prepare them to think about the potential commercialization of traditional hypothesis-driven research early in the process. Through these experiences, the students will be part of developing and implementing cutting-edge technologies in the field of separations. Students will leave the REU program with an understanding of how academic research and commercialization work in tandem to solve humanities grand challenges.The overall objective of this REU site is to teach undergraduate students to create and execute a research plan involving separations while simultaneously exposing them to the skills needed to define and assess the commercial potential of their projects. The participants will work for 10 weeks in a research laboratory focusing on the development of separation techniques and/or materials, while they will also be led through a custom designed commercialization series based on the NSF I-Corps Lean Canvas methodology. Students will be paired with industrial mentors, in addition to successful separations researchers, for a unique training opportunity that exposes them to the full lifecycle of research. This combination of activities will prepare the students to become leaders in the chemical, biomedical, and pharmaceutical industries. Prospective REU students will be recruited utilizing a diverse network, including the George Washington Carver Project and schools with a high Native American population.