REU SIte: Engineering Modeling and Computational Research

North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University, Greensboro NC

Investigators

Abstract

Non-Technical: This project will offer a ten-week summer program focused on computational models in engineering for ten undergraduate students in each year of the project. Computer-based models or computational models are used to understand and analyze natural and engineered systems, and are indispensable in modern science and engineering. Computational models are now widely-accepted, along with theory and experiment, as a crucial third mode of scientific research and engineering design. The undergraduate research experience outlined in this project provides the participants a skill set in contemporary engineering research that is sought after. A significant part of the skills acquired will be applicable to interdisciplinary research in academic, corporate, and federal laboratories. This skills-transferability, along with the opportunity for the participants to observe disparate research among their cohort will be a unique aspect of this REU. A large proportion of the students will be drawn from universities without graduate programs in engineering. Due to the broad applicability of computational modeling, the research experience gained, computing skills developed, and professional development provided during this research experience will prepare the students for a variety of paths to graduate education. This project will serve the mission of the National Science Foundation by training a diverse scientific workforce in the vital area of computational modeling. Technical: The College of Engineering at North Carolina A&T State University houses a Department of Computation Science and Engineering that offers only graduate programs and has affiliate faculty from several departments in the campus including engineering, math, and sciences. The department has extensive computational facilities that will be available to this REU program. This summer REU program will begin with a comprehensive exposure in engineering modeling methods, MATLAB computing software, and computational environments including visualization tools. Following the introductory short course, students will work on a chosen project with one of seven mentors. The research experience will involve modeling and computational tools and techniques applied to architectural, bio-, civil, industrial, and mechanical engineering problem domains. Examples of research topics are: shock motion in supersonic vehicles, hydrologic simulation, biomechanics, humanitarian logistics, analysis of soft gels, energy efficiency of buildings, and non-destructive testing. The program will offer career development workshops, visits to corporate and federal computational laboratories, and humanitarian outreach events that will provide key enriching experiences to the participants. The key broader impact of the project will be the mentored training of students in regional institutions without graduate programs in computational modeling.