This three-year REU Site program at Pennsylvania State University, University Park will focus on research in Chemical Energy Storage and Conversion. Ten undergraduate students each year will engage in hands-on research that will help them develop the skills needed for the critical evaluation of these technologies and a deeper understanding of the research process. The REU participants will also have the opportunity to interact and learn from the large number of undergraduates who will be conducting summer research at the university.
In addition to the research experience, REU students will be engaged in a series of educational meetings focused on the following topics: 1) Laboratory Safety and Right-to-Know laws; 2) Maintaining a high-quality laboratory notebook; 3) Library services, electronic databases, and citation indices; and 4) Statistical analysis of experimental data. Social activities will be an integral part of the students' experience with the goal of building friendships and collegiality between the students and faculty mentors. Students will be guided through a series of written and oral presentation steps that will provide them with the background they need to create a "virtual poster"- a multimedia presentation of their research that can be shared via the web. This virtual poster will also be transportable, allowing REU students to share their work with students and faculty at their home universities, project collaborators, and future REU participants. Finally, the Principal Investigator (PI) will use the virtual posters as a recruiting tool for future REU applicants.
What are the broader impacts of the proposed activity? The goal of this REU Site program is to attract an outstanding and highly diverse group of students nationwide. Recruitment efforts will be done at a number of targeted natural and physical science programs at smaller (primarily Liberal Arts) institutions, including Bryn Mawr, Swarthmore, Lincoln University, and Juniata. In addition, efforts will be made to attract students from smaller schools like Bucknell, Villanova, and Lafayette that have undergraduate engineering programs but limited graduate research activities. Participants in the program will be motivated and encouraged to pursue graduate study.
The increasing realization of diminishing fossil and fuel resources, coupled with the challenge of energy security and environmental impact of energy consumption, are motivating extensive research efforts in improving and developing new energy storage and conversion technologies. Pennsylvania State University is at the forefront in research in alternative energy technology, with a university wide initiative to take a leadership role in energy-related research.
The Penn State Chemical Engineering department has held a Research Experience for Undergraduates site titled "Chemical Energy Storage and Conversion" with PI Janik as the director from 2010-2012. The NSF funds for this site were used to support students from other institutions, with the exception of two Penn State students in the final year (one non-University Park). NSF supported 32 student participants over the 3 year period. An additional 28 Penn State students participated in the same program through internal university financial support. 41% of NSF supported students were women and 13% were under-represented minorities (1 African American and 3 Hispanic students). Two of the Hispanic participants were from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez, which enrolls the largest number of Hispanic students in Chemical Engineering in the U.S. This was one of the universities with substantial minority populations specifically targeted in our recruiting efforts. Students participated in an intense, 10 week research experience advised by a Chemical Engineering faculty member. All research experiences were in the area of "Chemical Energy Storage and Conversion," including work in biofuels, batteries, fuel cells, and solar cells among others. Students prepared both oral presentations and poster presentations of the outcomes of their research. To date, 5 peer reviewed publications have resulted from this work. In addition to the research experience, participants participated in weekly academic events the developed research skills (planning research, lab safety, writing, presenting), broadened their exposure to energy areas involving chemical engineers, and discussed the process or pursuing a research career.
