REU Site: Surface and Thin Film Science and Engineering

University Of Virginia Main Campus, Charlottesville VA

Investigators

Abstract

TECHNICAL SUMMARY: With support from the Division of Materials Research at the National Science Foundation, the proposed REU Site: Surface and Thin Film Science and Engineering at the University of Virginia, will strengthen the nation's science and engineering workforce through the professional, social, and cognitive development of the next generation of scientists and engineers. The opportunities for undergraduates to conduct hands-on research during their initial years at college will stimulate their interest in science and engineering and encourage them to consider advanced degrees and careers in these fields. Accordingly, one of the goals of the program is to recruit women, underrepresented minorities, and individuals with disabilities to participate in the summer research experience. The chosen technical focus on surface and thin film science and engineering represents a strength of the university. The topic is inherently multidisciplinary, hence students will be exposed to the full range of core disciplines that support the field. Many technologies hinge on controlling surface and thin film properties, including heterogeneous catalysis, nanoelectronics, solar cells, corrosion protection, and immunological responses at cell surfaces. Any class of materials, metals, ceramics or polymers (or hybrid composites of each) can be made in thin film form. There is similar diversity in processing: thin films can be deposited by vacuum processes such as evaporation or sputtering, by chemical vapor deposition, by surface reactions such as oxidation and nitridation, from solution, and from the melt. In concert with their faculty mentors, REU students will isolate discrete research problems that they can reasonably expect to address during the eight-week session. The students will then review the relevant literature, design experiments, analyze the data, draw conclusions, generate a written report, and present their work to a gathering of the cohort at the end of the session. NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: With support from the Division of Materials Research at the National Science Foundation, the REU Site: Surface and Thin Film Science and Engineering, at the University of Viriginia will bring 11 undergraduates to the University of Virginia (UVa) for an 8-week, actively mentored, summer research experience. The program is designed to promote the professional, social, and cognitive development of the REU students, encourage them to consider careers and graduate study in science and engineering, and help create a more diverse workforce and professoriate. The projects chosen for inclusion in this program reflect areas of strength for the University of Virginia and address substantive science and engineering research questions. Insights generated during the REU program will have implications for aircraft, corrosion, electronics, catalysis, and nanomaterials research. Surface and thin film science and engineering is inherently multidisciplinary, hence students will be exposed to the full range of core disciplines that support the field. Significant scientific progress requires collaboration, an aspect of the twenty-first research paradigm that is essential for students to experience, and by working in the labs at this REU site, students will have this opportunity.