REU Site: Polymer Innovation for a Sustainable Future

非技术概述由材料研究部和现有的激励竞争研究计划(EPSCoR)联合资助，南密西西比大学将主办一个本科生研究体验(REU)网站，支持来自美国各地的10名本科生参加为期十周的身临其境的研究计划，旨在材料开发的可持续方法，以满足关键的社会需求。REU网站的学生：可持续未来的聚合物创新与最先进的聚合物科学和工程实验室的研究生和教职员工并肩工作，在获得基础研究技能的同时应对挑战，包括通过开发可回收和可降解塑料来减少塑料污染，利用生物聚合物创造可持续材料，以及设计用于净水的新材料。通过对当地工业和国家实验室的实地考察，学生可以接触到材料制造方面的挑战和科学和工程领域的职业机会。他们通过参与性的讲习班和与社区的接触，建立跨学科的沟通和团队建设技能。该计划通过招收主要来自本科院校、社区学院和少数族裔服务机构的学生，重点是一年级和二年级的学生，扩大了对科学和工程的参与。REU旨在通过吸引来自不同背景的学生，发展跨学科研究技能，并鼓励他们攻读STEM高级学位，帮助培养下一代科学和工程研究人员。技术概述21世纪的重大挑战需要新的和可持续的材料开发方法。科学家必须在日益复杂的跨学科团队中工作，这些团队不仅要解决技术挑战，还要解决他们的研究对环境和全球的影响。REU网站：面向可持续未来的聚合物创新专注于材料开发的可持续方法，以满足关键的社会需求。本科生研究人员致力于基础材料研究，涉及材料可持续性的复杂、跨学科方面，包括可回收和可降解材料的设计，可再生原料的聚合物合成，提高工艺效率，以及为可再生能源应用设计聚合物，同时获得评估新材料开发对环境影响的工具。这项研究分为三个主题。主题1，可回收和可降解性设计，包括生物衍生双酚的设计，以创建具有可降解部分的热固性；利用角蛋白生物质创建紫外光固化复合材料；以及通过反应挤出向上回收塑料废物。主题2，可持续聚合物：(生物)可再生原料，包括木质素高温聚合物复合材料的设计，以及抗菌壳聚糖纳米复合材料的创建。主题3，可持续能源和水净化材料，包括综合高通量实验和数据科学技术，以设计灵活的电子设备，以及表面改性，以创建耐污染疏水聚合物膜，用于水净化。REU学生获得实践研究经验，参加可持续材料的讲座和研讨会，并学习将结果或他们的研究交流给不同的受众，包括中学生、来自聚合物科学和工程、生物和化学背景的教师，以及NSF/NIH项目经理。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。

Non-technical summaryJointly funded by the Division of Materials Research and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), the University of Southern Mississippi will host a Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) site supporting ten undergraduate students from across the U.S. in a ten-week immersive research program targeting sustainable approaches in materials development to meet critical societal needs. The students in the REU Site: Polymer Innovation for a Sustainable Future work side by side with graduate students and faculty in state-of-the-art polymer science and engineering laboratories to gain skills in fundamental research while addressing challenges including reducing plastic pollution through development of recyclable and degradable plastics, creating sustainable materials from bio-polymers, and designing new materials for water purification. Students are exposed to materials manufacturing challenges and career opportunities in science and engineering through field trips to local industry and national laboratories. They build interdisciplinary communication and team-building skills through participative workshops and outreach to the community. The program broadens participation in science and engineering by recruiting students from primarily undergraduate institutions, community colleges, and minority-serving institutions, focusing on students from the freshman and sophomore years. The REU is designed to help develop the next generation of science and engineering researchers by attracting students from diverse backgrounds, developing interdisciplinary research skills, and encouraging them to pursue advanced degrees in STEM.Technical summaryThe grand challenges of the 21st century require new and sustainable approaches to materials development. Scientists must work in increasingly complex, interdisciplinary teams that address not only the technical challenges but also the environmental and global impacts of their research. The REU Site: Polymer Innovation for a Sustainable Future is focused on sustainable approaches to materials development to address critical societal needs. Undergraduate researchers are engaged in fundamental materials research efforts that span the complex, interdisciplinary facets of materials sustainability, including design of materials for recyclability and degradability, synthesis of polymers from renewable feedstocks, enhancing process efficiency, and designing polymers for renewable energy applications, while gaining the tools to assess the environmental impact of new material development. The research is organized into three themes. Theme 1, Design for Recyclability and Degradability, includes the design of bio-derived bisphenols to create thermosets with degradable moieties; utilization of keratin biomass to create uv-cured composites; and upcycling of plastic waste through reactive extrusion. Theme 2, Sustainable Polymers: (Bio) Renewable Feedstocks, includes design of lignin based high temperature polymer composites, and creation of antimicrobial chitosan nanocomposites. Theme 3, Materials for Sustainable Energy and Water Purification, includes integrated high-throughput experiments with data science techniques to design flexible electronics, and surface modification to create fouling resistant hydrophobic polymer membranes for water purification. REU students gain hands-on research experience, participate in lectures and seminars in sustainable materials, and learn to communicate the results or their research to different audiences, including middle school students, faculty from polymer science and engineering, biology, and chemistry backgrounds, and NSF/NIH program managers.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.