REU Site: Research Experience in Utah for Sustainable Materials Engineering (ReUSE)

University Of Utah, Salt Lake City UT

Investigators

Abstract

NON-TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION: This new Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Site has the goal of training metallurgy and materials science and engineering undergraduates in sustainable engineering. This is accomplished through education in sustainability fundamentals followed by deeply embedded learning experiences alongside faculty mentors in Materials Science & Engineering. Students are exposed to sustainability research in the areas of energy, resources, and water taking advantage of the unique geography in Utah. The participants are selected to maximize diversity with an emphasis on Latino, Pacific Islander, and refugee students since these match the high minority populations present in Salt Lake County. A high fraction of participants are contributing to scholarly products such as manuscripts or conference abstracts and presentations. Independent evaluation is being used to monitor continuously and improve effectiveness of this Site. Best practices, lessons learned, and positive outcomes are shared with the broader engineering education community through publications and presentations at the American Society for Engineering Education. TECHNICAL DETAILS: Each participant spends the summer embedded in a research group working with one of 10 participating faculty mentors. Projects involve the development of alternative materials, techniques, and processing routes to achieve more sustainable engineering outcomes in three key subareas: water, energy, and resources. The energy emphasis is placed on replacing critical, toxic, or expensive elements with more sustainable alternatives in order to enable renewable or low-carbon energy technologies. For water, the emphasis is on providing access to clean water through desalination, water purification, and modeling of potential toxins in water and soil. In terms of resources, the emphasis is made on recycling and reducing landfill mass by developing biodegradable packaging and capturing rare metals via recycling of e-waste. In addition to research activities, the participants are also involved in weekly scientific and career-development seminars. All participants present their scientific findings at a symposium at the end of each summer. 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.