The award provides support for a three-year REU Site at the University of Alabama Tuscaloosa (UA). The proposed REU site will engage undergraduate students in cutting-edge research in fluid mechanics with projects implementing both computational and experimental analysis tools. This topic of study is an ideal choice for a cross-disciplinary program because fluid dynamics is highly relevant to a wide array of research areas in engineering. Ten faculty will participate as research mentors. These faculty mentors represent the departments of Aerospace Engineering & Mechanics, Mechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Construction and Environmental Engineering and Chemical & Biological Engineering.
The program will include seminars on defining the experimental method, lab safety, ethical conduct in reporting data, discussion of error analysis and how to formulate a research plan. To enhance the hands-on research experience, a variety of professional development activities have been incorporated in the program. These include: 1) technical report writing; 2) oral presentations; 3) the application process for graduate school and preparation for taking the GRE. In addition, students will participate in several field trips including a tour to the Arnold Engineering Development Center (AEDC), the most advanced and largest complex of flight simulation test facilities in the world.
This program incorporates and aggressive recruitment plan for attracting 50% female and other underrepresented groups as students into the program. It is the goal of this REU to expose students to a diversity of research areas, while providing a venue where students can disseminate their results and interact with other professionals in an enriching environment. One of the primary objectives of the program is that students attend and present an abstract (oral or poster) at the American Physical Society Division of Fluid Dynamics (APS DFD) annual conference held each year in November.
The involvement of students in exciting research in fluid mechanics enhances the likelihood that they will consider post-graduate study and broaden the base of the Nation's technical manpower.
This award is co-funded by the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EHR/EPSCoR).
The goal of this REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates) site at the University of Alabama was to expose undergraduate students to all phases of a rewarding research experience in the discipline of engineering fluid mechanics. These phases included hypothesis formation, experimental design, data acquisition, data analysis and technical communication, culminating in a trip to the American Physical Society (APS) Division of Fluid Dynamics (DFD) conference where each student gave a ten minute research presentation. This research experience gave students a feel for what it is like to be in graduate school, and, thus, it was another goal that this experience be positive such that they seriously consider the pursuit of an advanced degree in engineering. Finally, recruitment of participants focused on women and minority students; 60% of the participants were in this category. Meaningful research in the area of fluid dynamics across the disciplines of Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Biological Engineering was performed by 24 undergraduates and one hich school teacher over three summers ending in 2010. As an example, several students over the three years participated in a project which looked at the surface patterning made by the scales on butterfly wings. One student found that the scales on many wings, such as the Monarch, have a roof-shingle pattern but are also bristled at an angle of approximately 45 degrees. A biology high school teacher from Tuscaloosa, AL studied flight characteristics of butterflies with and without scales. It has been hypothesized that this pattern results in the air being trapped between the scales forming small vortices that allow the air to move over the scales with less drag or resistance (like a box pushed on rollers versus a flat surface). Another student in 2010 analyzed such a flow using Computational Fluid Dynamics. Both students continued to work on the project and have obtained or will obtain their Master’s degree. This is just one example of many positive results of the REU site in fluid mechanics at the University of Alabama. Finally, it was also demonstrated that students’ assessment of their presentation skills significantly improved as a result of the program. The intellectual merit resides in the current need for basic and applied research in fluid mechanics across a range of engineering disciplines as well as the training of undergraduate students in state-of-the-art laboratory environments. This program provided a structured plan for each student to attend and present their work at a professional fluid mechanics conference. All students demonstrated the ability to obtain high-quality research results over the course of the ten week summer period. Thus, they all presented their work at the American Physical Society Division of Fluid Dynamics (APS DFD) Meeting held each year in late November within the United States. This component of the program acts as an important follow-through mechanism to further encourage REU participants to pursue graduate studies and proved to be an extremely eye-opening experience into the nature of research being performed in the area of fluid dynamics. The broader impacts of this program included enhancing and diversifying the pool of students considering a research career in engineering/sciences. The program incorporated an aggressive recruitment plan for attracting talented female and other underrepresented groups as students into the program. This was evidenced by 15/24 of the recruits over three years being women and/or minority students. This REU site prepared students for graduate studies by immersing them in exciting and interesting research topics over the 10 week period while fostering their research skills, including the dissemination of their research results at a professional fluid mechanics conference. The REU program not only advanced knowledge in current research areas within fluid mechanics but also prepared a group of diverse engineering researchers for graduate school and beyond.
