The University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB) Materials Research Laboratory (MRL), an NSF Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC), provides a nurturing research experience in interdisciplinary materials science to a diverse group of undergraduate students from colleges and universities across the country where undergraduate research opportunities are limited. Eight undergraduates per year will complete 10-week summer internships at the UCSB MRL, where they will join additional students funded by the MRSEC program. All of these students will conduct research in the laboratories of UCSB faculty and participate in a series of workshops and colloquia intended to build scientific awareness and preparedness for graduate training and a career in materials science and engineering. An international component of the program will send an additional two students each summer to Gothenburg, Sweden for 10-week summer research internships at the Chalmers Institute of Technology.
Available research projects for REU participants in the laboratories of UCSB faculty cover a wide range of materials science topics including magnetodielectric materials with potential for use in capacitive detection of magnetic response, hierarchically-ordered metal and metal oxide thin films with applications in electronics and catalysis, organic semiconductors for thermoelectrics, design of photochromic responsive materials with potential applications in energy storage and chemical sensing, ultrasonic detection of failure in superalloy jet engine turbine blades, functionalization of fullerenes for organic photoelectrics, imaging of spins with nanoscale resolution with potential applications in molecular imaging, and conductive polymers for thermoelectrics. Participants at Chalmers will have opportunities to participate in research on measurement of cellular adhesion forces along a nanoparticle density gradient and development of soft materials for energy applications.
