NRT- HDR: Computing and Data Science Training for Materials Innovation, Discovery, Analytics

聚合物用于日常产品(如食品包装、油漆、管道)和先进技术(如微电子、药物输送)。受社会经济、环境和功能问题的驱动，对聚合物性能的要求是不断变化的。工业界和学术界需要找到新的方法来加速具有最佳性能的聚合物的设计，以解决这些问题。因此，需要一支在化学、材料科学、工程、计算机科学和数据科学方面接受过高级跨学科培训的专业劳动力。这项授予特拉华大学(UD)的国家科学基金会研究培训(NRT)奖将在特拉华大学和当地为少数族裔服务的机构特拉华州立大学(DSU)提供这样的培训平台。该平台将在高性能计算(HPC)、数据科学、材料科学和工程领域传授必要的专业培训和跨学科技术知识。该项目预计将在密歇根大学和得克萨斯大学培训50-60名博士生，其中包括23名受资助的学员，他们来自材料科学、化学工程、化学、计算机科学/工程和数据科学等核心学科。成功培训跨这些学科的下一代多样化劳动力将支持研发从传统的反复试验的材料实验向计算和数据驱动的快速材料创新的日益转变。NRT学员将通过以学位计划为基础的核心课程建立自己的学科优势，并通过新开发的课程接受次要学科的跨学科培训。培训内容的进展旨在将跨学科的技术知识和专业技能越来越多地注入受训者的博士研究项目。学员将由具有不同学科专长的学术导师共同指导，并与来自行业和国家实验室的导师定期互动。此外，面向行业和国家实验室职业的实习生将参加承诺的行业/国家实验室合作伙伴的暑期实习。追求学术事业的实习生将参加一个由两部分组成的教学证书计划(暑期工作坊，然后是为期一学期的教学奖学金)。每个培训元素都旨在将道德、包容、协作、团队科学、适应性沟通和人际谈判方面的技术和专业技能发展融合在一起。这种方法将确保来自不同学科的学员克服涉及特定学科交流和文化差异的障碍。在他们的NRT培训结束时，这些学员将作为HPC、数据科学、材料科学和工程学科之间的跨职能联系，利用他们获得的材料创新、发现和分析方面的知识来推动聚合物研究--他们的“MIDAS”触点。NSF研究培训(NRT)计划旨在鼓励为STEM研究生教育培训开发和实施大胆的、具有潜在变革意义的新模式。该计划致力于通过创新的、基于证据的、与不断变化的劳动力和研究需求保持一致的综合实习生模式，在高度优先的跨学科或趋同研究领域对STEM研究生进行有效培训。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。

Polymers are used in everyday products (e.g., food packaging, paints, pipes) and advanced technologies (e.g., microelectronics, drug delivery). Requirements for polymer properties are ever-changing, driven by socio-economic, environmental, and functional issues. Industry and academia need to find new ways to accelerate the design of polymers with optimal properties that address these issues. As a result, there is a demand for a professional workforce with advanced interdisciplinary training in chemistry, materials science, engineering, computer science, and data science. This National Science Foundation Research Traineeship (NRT) award to the University of Delaware (UD) will provide such a training platform at UD and a local minority-serving institution, Delaware State University (DSU). This platform will impart the necessary professional training and cross-disciplinary technical knowledge in high-performance computing (HPC), data science, materials science, and engineering. The project anticipates training 50-60 Ph.D. students at UD and DSU, including 23 funded-trainees, from the core disciplines of materials science, chemical engineering, chemistry, computer science/engineering, and data science. Successful training of the next generation of a diverse workforce across these disciplines will support the increasing shift in research and development from traditional trial-and-error materials experimentation to computing and data-driven fast materials innovation. NRT trainees will build their disciplinary strengths through their degree program-based core courses and receive interdisciplinary training in the secondary disciplines through newly developed courses. The progression of training elements is designed to increasingly infuse interdisciplinary technical knowledge and professional skills into the trainees’ doctoral research projects. Trainees will be co-advised by academic mentors with different disciplinary expertise and have regular interactions with mentors from industry and national laboratories. Further, trainees aiming at industry and national lab careers will participate in summer internships with committed industry/national lab partners. Trainees pursuing academic careers will participate in a two-part teaching certificate program (summer workshop followed by a semester-long teaching fellowship). Every training element is designed to blend technical with professional skills development in ethics, inclusion, collaboration, team science, adaptive communication, and interpersonal negotiation. This approach will ensure trainees from across disciplines overcome barriers involving discipline-specific communication and cultural differences. By the end of their NRT training, these trainees will serve as cross-functional connections between HPC, data science, materials science, and engineering disciplines pushing polymer research forward with their gained knowledge of Materials Innovation, Discovery, and AnalyticS—their ‘MIDAS’ touch.The NSF Research Traineeship (NRT) Program is designed to encourage the development and implementation of bold, new potentially transformative models for STEM graduate education training. The program is dedicated to effective training of STEM graduate students in high priority interdisciplinary or convergent research areas through comprehensive traineeship models that are innovative, evidence-based, and aligned with changing workforce and research needs.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.