REU Site in Chemical Engineering at the Nanoscale

University Of Connecticut, Storrs CT

Investigators

Abstract

This award provides funding for a 3-year REU Site in Chemical Engineering at the Nanoscale, at the University of Connecticut, under the direction of Dr. Joseph J. Helble. This 10-week summer program will provide 10 chemical engineering undergraduate students from other institutions with the opportunity to work with chemical engineering faculty on projects that emphasize chemical engineering at the nanoscale. Because all of the faculty are participants in major interdisciplinary research centers on campus, students will have access to technician-assisted state of the art instrumentation in analytical chemistry, surface science, and biotechnology for their research. Recruiting will be done nationally with a special emphasis on local small colleges and the University of Puerto Rico Mayaguez. In addition to the laboratory research experience, communication skills development will be stressed through meetings, discussions, short written summaries, and an end-of-summer REU Research Symposium. A rich seminar program will also provide a practical perspective on the developing importance of nanotechnology through a plant trip and lectures by industrial scientists, and will stress recognition of issues of scientific ethics through a special program of faculty-moderated discussions and a half-day workshop led by the Director of the Scientific Freedom, Responsibility and Law Program of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).