REU Site: Retaining Engineers through Research Entrepreneurship and Advanced Materials Training (RETREAT)

Florida State University, Tallahassee FL

Investigators

Abstract

This REU Site: Retaining Engineers through Research Entrepreneurship and Advanced Materials Training (RETREAT)renewal at Florida State University (FSU) will integrate a research collaboration portal for participants in order to gain fundamental insights about transformational student success pathways into joint material science and entrepreneurial pursuits. This new direction builds upon our established research training model based on past successes with research education to help students understand fundamental science developments connected with finding practical solution for industry needs. The REU program is a 10-week summer program that provides research opportunities for 10 students to participate each year. The primary goal of the program is to increase the number of engineering students to continue post-baccalaureate and eventually enter into engineering careers in industry or postgraduate training in engineering research, and engage the students in activities that focus on bridging the gap between engineering innovations and their market potential. This will be achieved through organized coursework or seminars on Entrepreneurship delivered by local experts, arranged by FSU’s Entrepreneurs-in-Residence and the Jim Moran Institute at the FSU Business School. The High-Performance Materials Institute (HPMI) will host the REU program through a combination of lab-based research and seminars. Participating students will be actively engaged in cutting-edge research under the direct supervision of dedicated graduate students, postdocs and faculty mentors. The research component will focus on innovative developmental work in multiscale-multifunctional materials. This hands-on experience allows participants the opportunity to experience their STEM classroom learning being manifested in the labs. The advent of Generation IV composites, which are multiscale, multifunctional, inherently sensing, morphing, etc. materials, has led to the need for recruiting more versatile, innovative, quick, and independent thinking, hands-on, researchers to maintain the U.S. technological lead. The goal is to impact students through fundamental research endeavors that focus on innovative developmental work in multiscale-multifunctional materials. The participating students will be matched with mentors and research projects with a focus on the synthesis and processing of multifunctional materials for device application. Weekly entrepreneurial component seminars on Technology Entrepreneurship and Commercialization (TEC) provided through the Jim Moran Institute (JMI) of Global Entrepreneurship in the College of Business at FSU will enhance the understanding of the relevance of research innovations to the business environment. This will culminate with the EngiPreneur Competition, where students will present their strategies for bringing their research to the marketplace. Students will travel to the Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) at Eglin AFB, where they will attend seminars on the role of engineered materials in the nation’s defense. They will also participate in tours of several local facilities, including the NSF sponsored National High Magnetic Field Laboratory and Tallahassee-based engineering companies. This site is supported by the Department of Defense in partnership with the NSF REU program. 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.