This award supports a Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) site at the Chemistry Department of Clemson University during the summers of 2008-2010. Twelve NSF funded students will form the core of a larger program of 25-30 students, which includes 3-5 students recruited from collaborating institutions abroad. Participants engage in ten weeks of independent research in a project of their choice, under the guidance of one of 23 faculty advisors with a variety of interests in 3 focus areas with high current impact: chemistry of advanced materials, chemistry of biological systems, and chemistry education. Weekly instrumentation workshops and professional development tutorials are also provided. Participants give one short oral proposal presentation, write an abstract, prepare a poster, submit their research report in journal format, and participate in a peer reviewing process of these reports. In addition, there is a final college-wide symposium at which students present the results of their work in a poster format. Application to this program is open to all junior and senior chemistry majors, but special efforts are placed on recruiting minority students as well as applicants from non-PhD granting institutions. This REU site is jointly supported by the Department of Defense in partnership with the NSF REU program and by the NSF Divisions of Chemistry and Materials Research.
for 2010 has sponsored twelvestudents paid with NSF funds and an additional six students supported by Clemson chemistry Professors' research grants, the Clemson chemistry department, the Clemson College of Engineering and Science, the Clemson Office of the Vice-President for Research and Development, and an international science organization. Of the NSF-supported students, four were male and eight were female. Eight were from non-PhD granting institutions and four were from PhD granting institutions. None were under-represented minorities. Program participants were engaged in full-time research for 10 weeks during the summer. Students were also required to attend and participate in a series of instrumentation and professional development workshops conducted by expert faculty in the Chemistry Department at Clemson. Instrumentation Workshops consisted of lecture and hands-on sessions: 1. X-Ray Crystallography 2. Laser & Raman Spectroscopy 3. Mass Spectrometry 4. NMR Spectroscopy Professional Development Workshops included: 1. Safety in the laboratory. 2. Ethics in Scientific Research - conducted by a professor on the staff of the Rutland Institute for Ethics at Clemson. 3. Chemistry Education 4. A visit to the R&D headquarters of Milliken Industries 5. Computational Chemistry 6. Preparing posters, writing abstracts, and writing journal articles. 7. The Ins and Outs of Graduate School. Each participant gave a 10-minute oral presentation on their proposed work during the second week of the program. Students were also required to prepare an abstract and present a poster on their summer work for presentation at a symposium at the end of the program. Professor Christy L. Haynes of the U. of Minnesota was the featured speaker at the symposium. The chemistry department faculty, post-docs and graduate students came to the poster session. There were many lively discussions. In addition, all students wrote a report on their results in the format of a professional scientific journal. The articles were submitted for anonymous peer review among participants, corrected and returned to the program coordinator. Social events included a department welcoming picnic for the SURPers and an all-day raft trip on the Nantahala River.
