REU Site: A Multidisciplinary Research Experience in Engineered Bioactive Interfaces and Devices

这个位于英国肯塔基大学的REU网站的总体目标是为工程生物活性界面和设备领域的大二、大三和大四本科生提供一个新的多学科研究和教育体验。工程生物活性界面和设备的研究侧重于与生物系统相互作用并促进预期反应的结构的新设计。这些先进的结构有许多应用，包括组织工程、传感系统和药物输送。学生将从工程、生物、化学、物理和数学等各个本科学科招收。肯塔基大学周围有许多地区学院和大学在这些地区没有研究生课程。这些机构的招聘将鼓励那些可能不会追求更高学位的学生。此外，该计划的招聘将集中在没有研究生课程的国家机构。将特别努力吸引妇女和少数民族参加该项目，方法是在少数民族机构招募人员，并在少数民族和妇女组织的全国会议上宣传该项目，如妇女工程师协会和全国黑人工程师协会。被录取的学生将与目前从事跨学科合作研究的教师和研究生密切合作。拟议的REU计划建立在这些成功合作的基础上，并将其与其他教育组成部分相结合，如研讨会、讲习班和其他技术和社会活动。学生将接触到跨学科研究的兴奋，并在课程结束时对研究生研究所涉及的内容有很好的了解。这个REU站点在生物系统研究人员和那些创造新颖工程合成体系结构的研究人员之间的跨学科互动的需要早已被认识到。这些系统的成功开发不仅依赖于通过纳米技术、自组装和混合系统开发新型合成体系结构的专业知识，还依赖于这些界面与生物系统（如细胞和蛋白质）的相互作用。作为为期10周的暑期REU项目的一部分，本科生将有机会学习三个跨学科的研究主题，这些主题构成了该领域研究的基础。这些包括：1)新的生物活性结构，2)界面上的细胞/蛋白质相互作用，以及3)集成到设备中。这些学生将与目前从事这三个主题的跨学科合作研究的教师和研究生密切合作，进一步支持高度跨学科的团队研究方法。该REU项目不仅将为学生提供真正的跨学科指导和研究培训，还将通过研讨会，实地考察和与研究生和教师的互动激发学生对科学和工程博士职业的兴趣，并将通过参与研究和在内部和科学会议上的演讲来培养学生的独立性和信心。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The overall objective of this REU Site at the University of Kentucky (UK) is to provide a novel multidisciplinary research and education experience for rising sophomore, junior and senior undergraduates in the area of Engineered Bioactive Interfaces and Devices. Research in Engineered Bioactive Interfaces and Devices focuses on the novel design of architectures that interact with biological systems and promote a desired response. These advanced architectures have numerous applications including tissue engineering, sensing systems, and drug delivery. Students will be recruited from various undergraduate disciplines including engineering, biology, chemistry, physics and mathematics. There are numerous regional colleges and universities surrounding the University of Kentucky that have no graduate programs in these areas. Recruitment at these institutions will encourage students that may not otherwise pursue an advanced degree. In addition, recruitment for the program will focus on national institutions that do not have graduate programs. Special efforts will be made to attract women and minorities to this program by recruiting at minority institutions and publicizing the program at national meetings of minority and women organizations such as the Society of Women Engineers and the National Society of Black Engineers. Students accepted into the program will work closely with faculty and graduate students who are currently engaged in collaborative, cross-disciplinary research. The proposed REU program builds on these successful collaborations and integrates them with other educational components, such as seminars, workshops, and other technical and social activities. The students will be exposed to the excitement of interdisciplinary research and by the end of the program will have an excellent knowledge of what is involved in graduate research. The need for this REU Site's cross-disciplinary interaction between investigators working in biological systems and those creating novel engineered synthetic architectures has long been recognized. Successful development of these systems will depend on expertise not only in developing novel synthetic architectures through nanotechnology, self-assembly and hybrid systems but also on the interactions of these interfaces with biological systems such as cells and proteins. As part of the 10-week summer REU program, the undergraduate students will have the opportunity to learn about three cross-disciplinary research themes that form the foundation of the research in this area. These include: 1) Novel Bioactive Architectures, 2) Cell/Protein Interactions at Interfaces, and 3) Integration into Devices. The students will work closely with faculty and graduate students who are currently engaged in collaborative, cross-disciplinary research across these three themes further supporting a highly multidisciplinary team research approach. This REU Program will not only provide the students with true interdisciplinary mentoring and research training but will also stimulate the students' interests in Ph.D. careers in science and engineering through seminars, field trips and interactions with both graduate students and faculty, and will develop the students' independence and confidence through participation in research and presentations both in house and at scientific meetings.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.