IRES: U.S.-Swedish Summer Research Experience for Students at the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, on Materials Research and Interfacial Phenomena

Cuny City College, New York NY

Investigators

Abstract

0968244 IRES: U.S.-Swedish Summer Research Experience for Students at the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, on Materials Research and Interfacial Phenomena This program for International Research Experience for Students (IRES), headed by principal investigator (PI) Ilona Kretzschmar, at the City College of New York (CCNY), will provide U.S. undergraduate and graduate students with early career research experience at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm, Sweden. During focused ten-week summer programs, IRES participants will be involved in materials science and interfacial phenomena research and will gain hands-on experience with colloidal assembly, particle surface modification, and particle-particle interaction characterization. Student research training will occur in the laboratory of Professor Kretzschmar (CCNY) and at KTH, in cooperation with her counterparts in Stockholm, Professors Magnus Johnson, Mamoun Muhammed, Jinshan Pan, and Mark Rutland. The research component at CCNY will familiarize IRES participants with particle surface modification techniques that are used to create so-called patchy particles. The research component at KTH, in the School of Chemical Science and Engineering, will involve the training of IRES participants in AFM-based colloidal probe characterization for measuring particle-particle interactions and linker-patch binding strengths in patchy particle systems. Overall, these activities should help build a growing US-Swedish materials network of junior and senior researchers. Results are expected to lead to novel measurements of particle-particle interactions and linker-patch binding which may contribute to future work in applied electrochemistry and biotechnology in areas such as surface and corrosion science, functional materials, and wood chemistry. The broader impacts of this US-Swedish IRES include the introduction of students from underrepresented groups, i.e., minority and female students, to a research environment at a leading European institution while providing all participants with early career mentoring. IRES participants will be recruited from the Grove School of Engineering and the New York City-Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program. Each participant will be mentored by the PI through biweekly meetings during the academic year and prepared for their international research experience in the PI?s laboratory. Prior to their travel to Stockholm, IRES participants will develop a summer research plan with their KTH mentors and the PI. The research experience itself will provide the students with a unique perspective on the scientific approach to problem solving and give them a global perspective on colloids research. Further, IRES participants will share their experience via publications in the CCNY Journal for Student Research and presentations at the Urban Conference Series, the NSF Engineering Education Awardees Conference, and an annual Bridge-to-the-Doctorate retreat. Consistent with IRES objectives, this dissemination effort will provide U.S. students, many from from underrepresented groups, with ample role models while demonstrating the importance of obtaining international research experience. Altogether, this meets the NSF goal of advancing scientific knowledge by enabling experts in the United States and Europe to combine complementary talents and share research and education resources in areas of strong mutual interest and competence.