MRI: Acquisition of a Rheometer to Enhance Interdisciplinary Undergraduate Research and Education at Murray State University

该奖项来自重大研究仪器计划和既定的激励竞争研究计划(EPSCoR)，为默里州立大学(MSU)提供了购买流变仪的资金，以加强化学系和工程学院的本科生研究和教育。该仪器将用于研究聚合物和塑料、聚合物溶液、流体、树脂和其他软材料的流变(应力-变形)特性。化学系的研究小组进行研究，以了解含电荷塑料和材料的基本流变性，这些材料对于推动储能、电子设备和3D打印应用至关重要。流变仪极大地增强了密歇根州立大学聚合物和材料科学扩展的多学科项目的可用仪器。本科生将接受的“动手”培训将导致化学和工程学领域最多五门讲座和/或实验室课程的改进。由于这些学生中的许多人来自遥远的西部肯塔基州、田纳西州西北部和伊利诺伊州南部的农村县，这种前沿的经历不仅将加深他们对聚合物和材料科学的理解，还将增加这些学生在该地区获得有意义的STEM相关职业和/或更好地为职业预科学校做准备的可能性。最后，流变仪将增强密歇根州立大学与地区研发/制造设施的合作能力，从而加强现有的合作并实现新的合作。重大研究仪器计划和EPSCoR计划共同支持购买具有环境测试室、UV附件和介电能力的新流变仪。流变仪将加强默里州立大学在聚合物和材料科学方面快速增长的本科生研究和教育项目。它将能够对聚合物、聚合物溶液、流体、树脂和其他软材料进行实时和固化后的流变性分析。将得到加强的具体项目包括阐明由硫醇-烯/乙炔“点击”光化学制备的聚(离子液体)网络(PILS)的原位和固化后的流变性，这些PIL网络的介电性能的测定(包括对链动力学和离子迁移率的深入了解)，动态聚合系统的探索，以及3D打印用树脂的分析。对于所有这些项目，流变数据的获取，特别是那些使用紫外光导轨和介电附件获得的数据，将提供结构活性信息，对推进几个正在进行和未来的应用兴趣至关重要，包括气体/离子分离/吸收膜技术、微流体、电纺丝和其他电活性设备。流变仪还将在化学系和工程学院之间的几门课程中促进学生的教育进步：聚合物化学，包括开发全新的聚合物化学实验室课程，仪器分析，材料力学和材料力学实验室。除了教学和研究，流变仪的加入将进一步促进与一家地区化工公司的积极合作，以改进目前的几条商业产品线。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award from the Major Research Instrumentation program and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) provides Murray State University (MSU) with funds to purchase a rheometer to enhance undergraduate research and education in the Department of Chemistry and in the Institute of Engineering. The instrumentation will be used to study the rheological (stress-deformation) properties of polymers and plastics, polymer solutions, fluids, resins and other soft materials. Research teams in the Department of Chemistry conduct research to gain an understanding of the fundamental rheological properties of charge-containing plastics and materials critical to the advancement of applications in energy storage, electronic devices and 3D printing. The rheometer enhances significantly the instrumentation available for an expanding, multi-disciplinary program in polymer and materials science at MSU. The "hands-on" training that undergraduates will receive will lead to the improvement of up to five lecture and/or laboratory courses across chemistry and engineering. Since many of these students are from the rural counties of far-western Kentucky, northwestern Tennessee and southern Illinois, this cutting-edge experience will not only deepen their understanding of polymer and materials science but also increase the likelihood that these students gain meaningful employment in STEM-related careers in the region and/or better prepare them for pre-professional school. Finally, the rheometer will enhance MSU's ability to partner with regional R&D/manufacturing facilities thereby strengthening existing collaborations and enabling new ones.The acquisition of a new rheometer complete with environmental testing chamber, UV accessory and dielectric capabilities is supported jointly by the Major Research Instrumentation Program and the EPSCoR program. The rheometer will enhance a rapidly growing undergraduate research and educational program in polymer and materials science at Murray State University. It will enable real-time and post-cure rheological analysis of polymers, polymer solutions, fluids, resins and other soft materials. Specific projects that would be enhanced include the elucidation of in situ and post-cure rheological properties of poly(ionic liquid) networks (PILs) prepared by thiol-ene/yne "click" photochemistry, the determination of dielectric properties of these PIL networks (including insights into chain dynamics and ion mobility), exploration of dynamic polymeric systems, and the analysis of resins for 3D printing. For all of these projects, the acquisition of rheological data, in particular those obtained using the UV light guide and dielectric accessories, will provide structure-activity information critical to advancing several on-going and future application interests, including gas/ion separation/absorption membrane technologies, microfluidics, electrospinning and other electroactive devices. The rheometer will also allow for the educational advancement of students in several courses between the Department of Chemistry and the Institute of Engineering: Polymer Chemistry, including the development of a brand new Polymer Chemistry Laboratory course, Instrumental Analysis, Mechanics of Materials and Mechanics of Materials Laboratory. Beyond teaching and research, addition of the rheometer will further facilitate an active collaboration with a regional chemical company in order to improve several current commercial product lines.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.