This award for an REU Site at the Texas Engineering Experiment Station will provide research experiences in the area of microturbo machinery for 10 undergraduate students each year for three-years in a 10-week summer program. The objective of the program is to provide students with unique research experiences in a stimulating and friendly environment so that students will develop a passion for engineering research and will pursue it as a career choice.
This program is part of a larger scale multidisciplinary research project at Texas A&M University to develop micro turbines to enhance defense, homeland security, transportation, and aerospace applications. The program provides not only stimulating research opportunities, but it also offers a series of informative seminars, field trips and social events to complement the research activities and foster cohesiveness among the diverse group of students. At the end of the program, students will write a research report and present their research work to industry members of the Turbomachinery Consortium.
Recruitment efforts will be targeted towards women, underrepresented minorities, and persons with disabilities. The involvement of these undergraduate students in exciting research enhances the likelihood that they will consider post-graduate study and broaden the base of our technical manpower. Also, successful development of microturbines has the potential to open endless application opportunities in homeland security, transportation, aerospace, biomedical, advance manufacturing, and many other commercial applications.
