This award from the Division of Chemistry (CHE), with co-funding from the Office of International Science and Engineering (OISE), supports the renewal of an international Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) site between the Syracuse University (SU) and Graz University of Technology (TUG) in Graz, Austria for the summers of 2008-2010. The U.S. program will be directed jointly by Professors Karin Ruhlandt-Senge and Michael Sponsler of SU. In Austria, Frank Uhlig, head of the Inorganic Chemistry institute at TUG, will be responsible for running the TUG program. Twelve U.S. undergraduates will travel to TUG to participate in a ten week chemistry research program. Six of the U.S. students recruited will be supported with NSF funds and SU will support an additional six U.S. students. In addition, TUG will support ten Austrian students to travel to the U.S. to do summer research at SU. The Austrian students will be included in the domestic REU program at Syracuse University. U.S. students will be able to choose a chemistry research project in the area of inorganic, organic, physical, theoretical, analytical, biochemistry, radiochemistry, or chemistry and technology of inorganic and organic materials. Student activities in Graz are modeled after the domestic SU REU program. Near the end of the program, students will present their results both orally and in poster sessions. A capstone event held in October will reunite the U.S. students for a reception and a symposium in which they will describe their scientific accomplishments and cultural insights.
This project was geared to expose American chemistry undergraduate students to a high quality summer research experience to provide students with a sense of what graduate school in Chemistry would be about. As the project location was Austria, the intense, 10-week summer research experience was supplemented by intense cultural immersion. An international experience early in a student's life provides an impressive insight into the internationalization of modern research, a critical factor in the future development of scientific research. The host institutions, two research-intensive Universities, located in Graz, Austria are located in walking distance from each other. The Technical University Graz and the Karl Franzens University operate a joint Ph.D. program and extensively share equipment and other resources. As such, the distribution of students over two institutions is a natural extension of the close relationships these institutions share. The PI on this proposal has a very close, long-term working relationship with the program host in Graz, ensuring that students will be well taken care of. The Technical University in Graz is also operating a very active office for international relations. Staff members from this office are also actively involved in organizing the iREU program. Before their departure to Austria, each iREU student was given information on the program details, including basic advice on how to "survive" in Austria. Each student was also assigned a research project for the duration of the summer, with research topics spanning from materials to pharmaceutical chemistry. Specific projects included work on new computer screen (OLED) materials, the improvement of lithium ion batteries, new lead-free piezoelectric materials, the modification of enzymes for pharmaceutical applications, polymerization chemistry, and many more. Students traveled together, to Graz, and in years 2008-2010, one of the PIs traveled with the group to Austria to ensure students’ well-being and acclimatization. In the time period of 2008-2011 (one year of no-cost extension), 35 American students travelled to Graz. Of those, 20 (57%) were female and 13 (37%) were underrepresented minority students. The program is organized as a bilateral student exchange, with the two host institutions sending Austrian students to Syracuse University to conduct research side-by-side with a group of NSF and Syracuse University supported chemistry students. This is made possible by two parallel REU programs situated in the Department of Chemistry, one international (for which is report is written) and one domestic. As such, each participant in the domestic REU program is exposed to an international aspect of the program, as the Austrian and American students do not only conduct research together but are also housed in the same dormitory. A total of 40 Austrian students conducted research in Syracuse between 2008 and 2011, and in 2012, 7 more will do so. During the last four years, a total of 17 publications and several conference contributions were the result of research conducted by either American students in Graz, or Austrian students in Syracuse. Among the students who went to Austria, almost all went to first-rate graduate schools for a chemistry-related degree.
