This Integrative Graduate Education and Research Training (IGERT) award supports a program at the University of California, Santa Barbara, entitled Conversion of Energy Through Molecular Platforms. In this program, an interdisciplinary approach to graduate education is aimed at providing a new generation of chemical scientists and engineers with the technical skills, environmental awareness, business expertise, and teamwork approaches that will be required to address fundamental and applied issues in the generation and conversion of energy in efficient and environmentally-sustainable ways. The program is founded on the recognition that graduate students of Materials Chemistry and Engineering are conventionally trained to prepare and employ specific classes of functional materials to address particular technological needs. For a problem as broad and as urgent as global energy needs, these traditional modes of training do not suffice. In our new interdisciplinary model of education, the focus is on the better husbanding of fossil fuel resources, and on the inexpensive and large-scale conversion of solar energy to electricity. Graduate students with diverse backgrounds, drawn from a broad pool from across the country, are directed to address issues in energy conversion without being confined to any single material or technology, while learning to appreciate the economic and environmental issues that impact the implementation of technology. A mark of the program is a solid foundation in the entrepreneurial and communication skills needed to influence fundamental research directions, industrial advances, and national priorities in a significant and lasting manner. IGERT is an NSF-wide program intended to meet the challenges of educating U.S. Ph.D. scientists and engineers with the interdisciplinary background, deep knowledge in a chosen discipline, and the technical, professional, and personal skills needed for the career demands of the future. The program is intended to catalyze a cultural change in graduate education by establishing innovative new models for graduate education and training in a fertile environment for collaborative research that transcends traditional disciplinary boundaries.
developed an interdisciplinary approach to graduate education aimed at providing a new generation of Chemical Scientists and Engineers with the technical skills, environmental awareness, business expertise, and teamwork approaches that are required to address fundamental and applied issues in the generation and conversion of energy in efficient and environmentally-sustainable ways. The overarching theme of the project has been the recognition that graduate students of materials chemistry and engineering are conventionally trained to prepare and employ one narrow class of materials to address a task at hand. However, for a problem as broad and as urgent as global energy needs, we implemented a model of interdisciplinary materials training wherein graduate students could envisage solutions to problems in energy conversion without being confined to a particular class of materials or technologies. We also perceived an urgent need to train graduate students working on energy-related technologies to better appreciate economic and environmental issues that impact their implementation, and to possess the entrepreneurial and communication skills needed to influence fundamental research directions, industrial advances, and national priorities in a significant and lasting manner. The historical strength in energy-related research at UCSB and an increased campuswide focus on energy provided a strong foundation and motivation for this expanded training effort. Intellectual Merit: So far, 107 publications on the general theme of materials for energy conversion have acknowledged the ConvEne IGERT grant; many with multiple IGERT students and PIs, indicating exceedingly high, collaborative productivity. Broader Impact: Efforts in recruitment and broadening participation across the ConvEne IGERT Departments were especially successful, and demographics of the IGERT Fellows (32 total) 19% (6 students) URM and 44% (14 students) women; significantly greater than UCSB or national graduate student norms in the relevant disciplinary fields. Other points of pride included strong retention: Only two students left with a Master’s degree, because of health or family reasons. None left without a degree. As part of the project, fellows received training in cross-disciplinary laboratories, classes and seminars, in addition to their disciplinary graduate training and research. Apart from classes and workshops, leadership and communication skills were developed across many activities, including outreach to grade school students from local communities. Going forward, we anticipate that strategies for broadening participation, inculcating an interdisciplinary mindset, K–12 outreach activities designed to improve communication and leadership skills amongst the graduate student trainees, and plans for evaluation and assessment will be inspired by successes and failures of the IGERT project.
