REU Site: Experimental and Computational Spectroscopy: Fundamental Probes of Molecules, Molecular Interactions, and Materials

Ohio State University, The, Columbus OH

Investigators

Abstract

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). This Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) site at Ohio State University will support 10 students for 10 weeks during the summers of 2023 – 2025. These REU students will conduct research under a faculty mentor and participate in weekly meetings that provide training in the conduct of research, scientific communication skills, and strategies for attaining four-year or postgraduate degrees in STEM fields. The program will strive to support a diverse group of participants recruited from two- and four-year colleges and universities that generally lack specialized instrumentation for research. There will be an effort to recruit student participants from underserved areas such as Rust Belt cities and Appalachian counties in Ohio and neighboring states. The research training will be focused on how to use laboratory instruments and computers to learn about molecules and materials using electromagnetic radiation such as UV, visible, infrared, and radio frequency radiation. This research theme overlaps foundational ideas taught in initial chemistry courses, ensuring that even beginning students have some existing subject-matter knowledge upon which they can build. Training in the interactions between light and matter (i.e., spectroscopy) is critical for creating a workforce prepared for 21st century jobs in fields such as biomedical imaging, materials characterization, and quantum information science. The REU site at Ohio State University (OSU) is designed to amplify the impact of two recent NSF mid-scale instrumentation awards for new spectroscopy-based facilities: The National Extreme Ultrafast Science Facility (focused on high-intensity lasers), and the National Gateway Ultrahigh-Field NMR facility. Visiting scientists at these two user facilities from around the world will give weekly seminars to which REU participants will be invited. These students will be engaged in individual research projects in spectroscopy-focused research groups within the OSU Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Weekly workshops will focus on developing scientific communication skills with the assistance of current Ohio State Ph.D. students from a wide variety of backgrounds, adding an international flavor to the mentoring process. One focus will be to recruit student participants from regional undergraduate institutions, including many smaller ones with limited research opportunities that serve large numbers of first-generation college students. The REU program, augmented by long-term outcome tracking and assessments of program effectiveness, will provide these students with mentoring and networking opportunities to enhance their career opportunities in science and technology. 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.