This Partnership for Research and Education in Materials (PREM) between Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU) and Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a continuation of an earlier Collaborative to Integrate Research and Education (CIRE) program between FAMU and CMU. In this activity, twenty undergraduate and six graduate students will be organized into six groups, under the mentorship of a professor from both FAMU and CMU as follows: 1- The Role of Five-Parameter Grain Boundary Character in the Properties of Thin Film and Superplastic Materials, P.N. Kalu (FAMU), K.Barmak and A.Rollett (CMU). 2- Grain Boundary Engineering Using Two Point Function Statistics, E. E. Kalu (FAMU), H. Garmestani (Consultant) and B. L. Adams (BYU). 3- Partnership in Magnetism and Magnetic Processing, Ke Han (FAMU), J. Schwartz (FAMU) and M. E. McHenry (CMU). 4- The use of Chiral Surfaces to Control Specific Polymeric Crystal Growth, R.G. Alamo (FAMU) and G. Rohrer (CMU). 5- Materials Improvement of Superconducting Electronic Devices, J. Schwartz (FAMU), and P. Salvador (CMU) 6- Processing Model For Polycrystalline Micro and Nano Structured Materials, P.J. Gielisse (FAMU) and G.S. Rohrer (CMU).
The students will receive jointly taught Materials Science lectures via a live Internet connection. This multi-media component will also provide regular live teleconferencing between the students and faculty at both institutions. This award will provide the means to create three more courses and hardware for better interactive, long-distance learning between the two institutions. Ten FAMU students will spend their summer at CMU, providing a pool of minority students excited about research and expanding their exposure to research and graduate school. It is anticipated that the partnership will strengthen the quality of the FAMU materials science curriculum at both the undergraduate and graduate levels and enhance the opportunities for minority students to participate in materials science research at CMU. It will also enhance the materials science research resources at both institutions through long-term collaboration, shared equipment, and shared software.
