This Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Site focuses on training undergraduate students in research in the field of Computational Materials science, particularly Designing Materials in a Virtual laboratory. Four of the leading public universities in Florida (University of Florida, University of South Florida, University of Central Florida, and Florida State University) will participate in this distributed REU Site. Each year twelve undergraduate students will be recruited nationwide for a ten-week summer research experience. Each of the four campuses will host three undergraduates and engage them in research projects in the general areas of biology, nanoscience, and surface science, applying a range of computational simulation methods. Since the research projects involve collaborations between research groups at the participating universities, participating REU students will perform research in a cyberspace environment and become adept with cyber-enabled research tools. All twelve students will meet in University of Florida for two days for short courses at the beginning and in another campus for the presentation of research results at the end of the program. In addition to research, students will participate in professional development and career guidance activities and attend social events to network with students in other REU programs on campus. This REU Site is funded jointly by NSF Divisions of Materials Research, Chemistry and Physics in the Directorate of Mathematical and Physical Sciences.
This grant supported a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) summer program in Computational Materials Science. The computational research is performed in a virtual laboratory in which physical experiments are replaced by computer simulations performed on powerful computing clusters. This approach allows one to harness the power of modern computing to design novel materials for applications in diverse areas, such as energy, medicine, and microelectronics. Participants in the ten-week REU program were introduced to the ever-growing field of computational materials science through a research experience in an active research group at one of the four leading public universities in the state of Florida: University of Florida, Florida State University, University of Central Florida, and University of South Florida. The objectives of this REU program were to: • Introduce students to research in a highly interdisciplinary environment, • Provide an introduction to a broad range of computational methods in the physical sciences, • Improve students’ written and oral communication skills, • Prepare students for graduate school, • Increase the number of students entering fields of Computational Materials Science. A key strength of this REU program is a diversity of academic disciplines represented in the program. Research projects offered to the REU students spanned a wide range of areas of physics, chemistry, chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, and materials science. This multidisciplinary program, linked together by the use of common computational methods, encouraged the development of the students' ability to communicate across academic disciplines. This grant funded the total of 36 REU students, which were selected from over 260 applicants. A significant fraction (39%) of the REU participants were from institutions with no PhD programs and somewhat limited avenues for research experiences. Twelve students were recruited into the REU program each year, with 3 students working primarily at one site. Each REU student was incorporated into a research group and had a faculty advisor and a graduate student mentor. The students from different sites were brought together via a kickoff meeting held at the University of Florida at the beginning of each summer. During the kickoff meeting, the students were exposed to various areas of materials simulation, including density-functional theory, molecular dynamics, and phase-field modeling. At the end of each summer, all REU students gave research presentations at the annual meeting of the Florida Society for Materials Simulations (FSMS). Each student had a chance to learn about the activities of participants at the other sites. In addition, short workshops on time management and writing papers and proposals were given by the REU faculty The REU students also received a broader exposure to computational materials science through research presentations by faculty, postdocs, and graduate students, as well as a poster session for graduate students. In addition to the REU-wide kickoff and FSMS meetings, individual sites organized various activities, including lectures on advances in Materials Science and Physics, journal clubs, visits to experimental labs, and workshops on communication skills. Since the research was performed in a virtual laboratory, the students participating in this REU had a unique opportunity to continue their summer research remotely during the school year. This enabled several students to finalize their results and publish them in peer-reviewed journals and present them at a national meeting of the American Physical Society. Further details regarding this program, including the research reports and presentations of the REU students can be found at www.che.ufl.edu/reu/. ?
