MRI: Acquisition of a Spectroscopic Ellipsometer to Enhance Multidisciplinary Undergraduate Research and Educational Experiences

这笔赠款是为了获得一台光谱椭偏仪，用于推进凯特琳大学的材料研究。这一奖项将允许该大学扩大研究能力，支持将研究和体验式学习整合到课程中，并加强科学和工程领域的推广计划。随着凯特琳大学最近建立了许多新的教育项目，针对工程材料和表面的研究项目已经启动，涵盖了广泛的合作学科。椭偏仪将为不断增长的实验室能力增加广度，这对校园内许多正在进行的研究项目至关重要。本科生将受益于使用椭偏仪不仅是研究经验的一部分，也是他们课程的一部分，因为许多研究级仪器被集成到他们的课堂上。此外，该大学正在扩大研究生培养范围，目前正在开发S材料科学与工程硕士项目。因此，这一工具也将极大地惠及新的研究生课程。这一奖项还将丰富通过该大学提供的外展项目，旨在激发弗林特社区和其他地区对科学和工程领域的兴趣。该模型可以方便地接触到广泛的受众，同时还提供全面的研究级功能，如测量薄膜厚度、光学常数、折射率和孔径分布。最近在凯特琳建立的材料科学和工程相关研究项目涵盖了多个学科。参与这项提议的研究人员指导了许多本科生研究助理。这种椭偏仪将使研究人员能够克服与开发工艺-性能关系相关的挑战，这是优化和设计新材料和表面所必需的。该椭偏仪将支持的项目包括：为整形外科植入物开发工程表面，研究有机硅在等离子体中的沉积行为，为钠离子电池创造新材料和模型，改进食品储存材料，监测表面引发的聚合动力学，用等离子体沉积二氧化硅薄膜，为组织工程和伤口修复合成材料，以及了解薄磁流体层的折射率。该奖项由CBET分部和CMMI分部共同资助。

This grant is to acquire a spectroscopic ellipsometer for advancing materials research at Kettering University. This award will allow the university to expand research capabilities, support integration of research and experiential learning into courses, and enhance outreach programs in science and engineering fields. As many new educational programs have been established at Kettering recently, research projects targeted at engineered materials and surfaces have been launched, spanning a wide range of collaborative disciplines. An ellipsometer will add breadth to the growing laboratory capabilities essential to many ongoing research projects on campus. Undergraduates will benefit from using the ellipsometer not only as a part of the research experience, but also as a part of their courses, since many research-grade instruments are integrated into their classes. Additionally, the university is expanding its graduate offerings and is currently developing a Master?s program in Materials Science and Engineering. Therefore, this instrument will also greatly benefit the new graduate program. This award will also enrich the outreach programs offered through the university, designed to spark interest in science and engineering fields in the Flint community and beyond.The proposed instrument is a J.A. Woollam M-2000 Ellipsometer. This model can reach a wide audience with ease of use, while also offering full research-grade capabilities, such as measuring film thickness, optical constants, refractive index, and pore size distribution. Materials science and engineering related research projects recently established at Kettering encompass multiple disciplines. Investigators involved in this proposal mentor many undergraduate research assistants. This ellipsometer will enable researchers to overcome the challenges associated with developing the process-property relationships, necessary to optimize and engineer new materials and surfaces. Examples of projects, which will be supported by this ellipsometer, include developing engineered surfaces for orthopedic implants, investigating the deposition behavior of organosilicons in plasma, creating new materials and models for sodium-ion batteries, improving food storage materials, monitoring of surface-initiated polymerization kinetics, depositing silicon dioxide thin films with plasma, synthesizing materials for tissue engineering and wound repair, and understanding refractive index for thin ferrofluid layers. This award is co-funded by the CBET Division and CMMI Division.