The Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Site at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), the Summer Institute for Nano- and Biomaterials Research, will expose fifteen science and engineering undergraduates to cutting edge research each year. The student research projects are highly interdisciplinary, spanning seven departments and two colleges at CMU, including intra- and inter-departmental collaborations between researchers, allowing the students to interact with faculty, graduate and undergraduate students from a wide variety of disciplines. This REU site at Carnegie Mellon will positively impact the emerging nano- and biomaterials fields by providing educated personnel. The institute includes a summer curriculum development program for high school teachers that will raise the level of awareness about the emerging science of nano- and biomaterials among pre-college students.
Training students to be the next generation of researchers From 2010-2012, the REU site at Carnegie Mellon University hosted 47 undergraduate students in the STEM fields from around the country to train them in nano- and biomaterials research. The REU students participated in an exciting array of diverse research across the CMU campus. In some cases, the projects were established research efforts in which REU students learned how progress is made within existing research thrusts. In other cases, the projects were growing research efforts where students were exposed to how new research areas are developed. Overall, the research projects were highly interdisciplinary, spanning four departments and two colleges at CMU. In many cases, intra- and inter-departmental collaborations between researchers occurred, allowing the students to interact with faculty, graduate and undergraduate students from a wide variety of disciplines. The students engaged in real world research in the field of materials science for the summer, including investigating the biocompatibility of carbon nanotubes to be used for medical applications to the preparation of "self-healing" polymers that have the ability to repair themselves after damage. In addition to their research projects, students were exposed to other research areas through weekly seminars and presentation by other students. After participating in the CMU REU program, students returned to their home institutions, prepared to apply their new knowledge of materials to their academic studies. Students have further developed their research skills by attending graduate programs or directly entering the workforce after graduation. Supplementing the REU portion of the program, the teacher development program helped to introduce local K-12 teachers to the field of materials science. The teacher participants spent 4-6 weeks of their summer learning about the field of materials science. As a part of the program, they participated in workshops and engaged in projects to develop and implement materials-related research concepts into their high school classroom. Together with their physical science background and their newly acquired materials science knowledge, they developed lesson plans for high school physics, chemistry and biology classrooms that incorporated materials-science concepts. Lesson plans have included content and classroom activities on concepts such as materials science in the kitchen to sustainable roofing materials. These lesson plans are further increasing the awareness of the field of materials science in the high school classroom.
