This award provides support for 10 undergraduate students to engage in a summer research experience at the University of California, Davis Center for Biophotonics Science and Technology (CBST), an NSF-funded Science and Technology Center. The students will have a unique opportunity at the Center to engage in research in bio-imaging, biomaterials, medical devices, and sensors and assays. Engineering students as well as students from a broad range of other disciplines will be recruited and shown the advantages of interdisciplinary research. Students will be trained in laboratory "best practices" including research notebook documentation, inquiry methods, publication, and intellectual property rights and responsibilities. Ten students will be recruited to participate in biophotonics research for twelve weeks in the summer. This program will serve to encourage undergraduates to pursue advanced degrees in engineering and thus impact the nations need to increase the number of U.S. citizens and permanent residents engaged in research-related careers. It is also anticipated that this program will have a Broader Impact on the nations need to have broader participation in the research enterprise of citizens and permanent residents from demographic groups traditionally underrepresented in science and engineering.
