North Dakota: Research Infrastructure and Partnerships for Discovery

North Dakota State University Fargo, Fargo ND

Investigators

Abstract

Goals: North Dakota RII proposal will bring together people, tools, and ideas to lay the foundation for a durable, competitive and cutting edge research infrastructure with the primary focus on competitive research in renewable energy and flexible electronics and materials ? two areas of critical importance to North Dakota (ND). Intellectual Merit: New knowledge generated by this work will lead to greater understanding of issues at the core of problems in energy and microelectronics. The Flexible Electronic Materials (FlexEM) program has three major thrusts: 1) Barriers for Flexible Electronics; 2) Conjugated Organic Polymers for Flexible Electronics; and 3) Electronic Materials from Liquid Silanes. The proposed research aims at design, preparation, characterization, modeling, (and ultimately, prediction of behavior) of thin films and layered structures, which will enable flexible electronic technologies such as e-paper, photovoltaics, and health monitoring devices. SUstainable eNergy Research Infrastructure and Supporting Education (SUNRISE) program will elucidate fundamental aspects of heterogeneous catalysis, especially at the nanoscale, that are relevant to developing alternative transportation fuels and chemical feedstocks. Heterogeneous catalysts will be studied to gain knowledge about the electronic structure, surface morphology and defects, effects of doping and functionalization, redox properties, and finite size effects. Catalysts that show potential for the synthesis of preferred organic compounds that can be exploited to produce fuels, chemicals, and polymer monomeric feedstocks will be of particular interest. Emphasis will be placed on studies of transition metal (e.g., Co, Pd, Pt) catalysts. Broader Impacts: The major underrepresented groups in North Dakota are Native Americans and women. Nurturing American Tribal Undergraduate Research and Education (NATURE) is a multifaceted program that greatly increases the involvement of our five Tribal Colleges in STEM education and research. The ND EPSCoR program also administers Women In Science and Engineering (WISE) to provide supplemental funding to women faculty for lab upgrades and additional research staff. ND EPSCoR also appropriates funding for Women in Science, Mathematics, Engineering and Technology (WISMET) a networking group that provides mentoring for women undergraduate/graduate students and women faculty. The involvement on the research university campus continues in the proposed program with commitments to four new tenure track faculty slots for the Flexem and SUNRISE initiatives. At least 50 new faculty will be hired in the broader STEM areas at University of North Dakota and NDSU.