REU Site: Thermal Management on Multiple Scales

Washington University, Saint Louis MO

Investigators

Abstract

The primary objectives of this REU site at Washington University in St. Louis are to expand student participation in thermal management research on multiple scales and to attract a diverse pool of curious, motivated students into engineering careers. A large and diverse STEM workforce is critical to global competitiveness. This REU site will help increase the participation of women and underrepresented minorities in engineering careers through two proven strategies: (1) providing undergraduate research experience and (2) teaching students the societal importance of engineering through exposure to a variety of industrial, entrepreneurial, and academic career options; tours; and discussions with engineers. Students will study research topics involving heat and power, ranging from novel battery technologies, to enhanced cooling of micro-electronics and power electronics, to radiation in carbon capture processes. This will expose students to a range of engineering challenges, research methodologies, and careers that address the ever-expanding need for thermal-fluids engineers. The site will prepare students for their careers by teaching them how to communicate through oral presentations, posters, and written papers or reports. To further broaden participation, students will undertake an outreach project by assisting in teaching a short engineering course to underserved high school students in Washington University's College Prep program. The ability to control temperature and the transfer of thermal energy (thermal management) is critical to addressing the most important global challenges: clean and renewable energy production; inexpensive, efficient and reliable transportation; and ever-increasing data storage and processing demands. This REU site will advance the current understanding of fundamental heat and mass transfer, while translating discoveries to applied technologies for thermal management at the nano-/microscale, component, and system scales. For 10 weeks during the summer, students will be immersed in research projects tied to emerging technologies, such as metal-air batteries and nanofluidic and micro-/nanostructural thermal transport enhancement, while also learning the role of thermal-fluids engineers in the micro-/power electronics, chemical/material processing, transportation, and energy industries. The site will be interdisciplinary, approaching topics in thermal management from mechanical and chemical engineering perspectives. Activities will include lunches with faculty, research skills seminars, lab/industry tours, preparation for the GRE, and social activities. Participants will have multiple one-on-one advising sessions with the Principle Investigator to define and develop a plan for achieving personal goals, and students' progress will be tracked after the summer ends. The summer will culminate with students preparing a technical report, conference proceeding, or journal article as well as presenting their research results through a poster and oral presentation at a final research symposium. The fall after their summer experience, some of the students will have the choice of presenting their posters at ASME's International Mechanical Engineering Conference and Exposition or AIChe's Student Conference. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.