REU Site: Particle-based Functional Materials for Energy, Sustainability, and Biomedicine

今天的进步不是孤立地发生的，而是发生在两种或两种以上技术的交汇处。在生物医学、可持续发展和能源领域尤其如此。匹兹堡大学这个为期三年的REU网站：用于能源、可持续发展和生物医学的基于颗粒的功能材料，重点是对由于颗粒性质或颗粒对结构的影响而实现特定功能的材料进行计算和实验研究。这些系统包括：材料自我修复、治疗药物的受控输送、“智能”催化和颗粒分离，仅举几例。这种REU的前提是，未来的工程师将需要无缝地穿越看似不同的技术领域之间的边界。为此，PFM-REU计划明确侧重于提高学生的知识整合技能，同时建立他们在特定领域的知识基础，并培训他们从事产品创新。该项目旨在模拟一个全面的招生过程，权衡被认为是学生成功预测的非学术因素。通过这样做，该计划旨在扩大REU网站的覆盖范围和影响，并为匹兹堡的所有全面招生程序提供信息。这个为期10周的暑期计划的目标是：1)通过全面招生技术，每年录取10名不同的、有才华的本科生研究人员；2)培训这些学生在其10周的经验过程中进行(越来越独立的)研究；3)通过研究-实习配对和研讨会系列，提高学生在重点领域内和跨重点领域整合知识的能力；以及4)准备学生参与创新的产品设计。这是通过将REU网站的传统研究与量身定做的研讨会系列、翻译练习和创新的“交叉培训”实习相结合而实现的。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。

Today's advances don't happen in isolation, but instead occur at the intersections of two or more technologies. This is especially true in biomedicine, sustainability, and energy. The focus of this three-year REU Site: Particle-based Functional Materials for Energy, Sustainability, and Biomedicine, at the University of Pittsburgh, is comprised of computational and experimental studies of materials that fulfill a specific function either because of their particulate nature or due to the influence of particles on structure. Such systems include: material self-healing, controlled delivery of therapeutics, “smart” catalysis, and particle separations, to name a few. This REU is based on the premise that the future engineer will need to seamlessly traverse the boundary between seemingly disparate technology areas. Toward that end the PFM-REU program explicitly focuses on enhancing students’ knowledge integration skills while building their base of knowledge in a specific area and training them to engage in product innovation. The program aims to model a holistic admissions process that weighs non-academic factors that have been suggested as predictive of student success. By doing so, the program aims to expand the reach and impact of the REU Site and also inform all holistic admissions processes at Pittsburgh.The goals of this 10 week summer program are to 1) admit a diverse and talented pool of 10 undergraduate researchers each year via holistic admissions techniques; 2) train these students to perform (increasingly independent) research over the course of their 10 week experience; 3) increase students’ ability to integrate knowledge within and across the focus area via the research-internship pairing and workshop series; and 4) prepare the students to engage in innovative product design. This is accomplished by combining the traditional research of an REU site with a tailored workshop series, a translation exercise, and an innovating "cross-training" internship.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.