NSF's chemistry (CHE) and materials science research (DMR) divisions will jointly fund the University of Washington's Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) site for the summers of 2005-2007. The program director is Philip Reid who is assisted by Co-PI Sara Selfe. This REU site will provide research experiences at the University of Washington's Materials and Devices for Information Technology Research (MDITR) Center. The recruiting focus is for Gateway students, that is, lower-level undergraduates (entering sophomore and juniors) from community colleges and 4-year institutions that lack research facilities. Recruitment will emphasize women and underrepresented minorities. Seventeen faculty members from six UW departments have agreed to host two or more students in their labs for at least one of the three years of the proposed project. For each 10-week summer program, the 9-student cohort will engage in authentic hands-on research projects directly related to MDITR research. MDITR PIs will present technical seminars to provide students the opportunity to place their research into context related to the broad interdisciplinary field of photonics; and students will engage in workshops related to ethics, communicating science, and careers in order to learn about the community and culture of science and engineering in general. Furthermore, students will be engaged in research within the field of Information Technology, a critically important technology, impacting economic and social (education, health care, defense, entertainment, transportation, etc.) well-being both globally and nationally.
