This three year REU Site on Multifunctional Materials Systems at Texas A&M University will focus on the engineering science of multiscale fabrication, characterization, modeling and simulation of advanced structural materials for improved mechanical, electrical, thermal, optical, electromagnetic functionalities, and overall actuating or sensing capabilities. The three main objectives of the program are: 1) to emphasize multifunctional materials research across multiple disciplines and application for a variety of engineering systems; 2) to conduct research at the nano-level with an appreciation of its impact at the system design level and for designers to consider the impact nanotechnology could have on their component and system designs; and 3) to expose students to the concepts of technology innovation for emerging functional engineering systems. The REU students will be mentored by faculty from the departments of aerospace engineering, chemical engineering, and mechanical engineering and graduate students, and post doctoral researchers. During the REU summer program students will have the opportunity to interact with high school mathematics and science teachers who will be participating in a companion Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) program.
In addition to the research activities, the REU participants will attend weekly workshops on ethics in research, report writing, presentation skills, and on the graduate school application and funding processes. The students will be required to make formal mid-program progress reports to the PIs, faculty advisors and their peers. Finally, at the end of the summer students will present an oral multimedia or poster presentation of their research.
What are the broader impacts of the proposed activity? Recruitment for this REU program will have a special focus on recruiting students from Grambling State University, Prairie View A&M University, North Carolina A&T University, Southern University at Baton Rouge, Tuskegee University, and University of Texas at El Paso and Texas State University at San Marcos. The goal is to have outstanding undergraduate students majoring in the engineering, physical sciences, computer science, or mathematics disciplines participating in this REU Site program. The program will provide the students with a world view of advanced materials research through seminars given by national and international leaders, as well as opportunities for extended research internships or visits to national facilities and international experiences. "This REU Site is co-funded by the Department of Defense in partnership with the NSF REU program."
The objectives were to (1) Recruit ten undergraduates annually to conduct summer research at TAMU; (2) Recruit students from under-represented grorups (50% minimum); (3) Recruit from minority-serving and undergraduate institituions; (4) Provide opportunities for undergraduates to network, present at professional conferences and publish with faculty and seek to collaborate after the summers; and (5) increase REU student awareness of graduate school opportunities. Dr. Richard personally visited Texas Southern, Prairie View A&M and Texas A&M at Corpus Christi to recruit, within driving distance, not at NSF expense. These types of recruiting at targeted schools are effective when underrepresented students see someone like them (e.g., a researcher from a minority group) involved in cutting-edge research. REU program surveys generally indicate that approximately 75% of the participants learned about the programs through websites (other REU site websites or the NSF REU website). We use personal contacts at an instittution, noting that recruiting is most impacted by student contacts. We were able to get almost 50% from under-represented groups, but few of those are women. We did achieve at least 50% from outside. Schools represented include Texas Tech, University of Massachusetts, Rutgers, Purdue, Texas Southern University, University of Houston, Northwestern College, Columbia, University of Puerto-Rico, etc. Generally students were from groups typically under-represented in aerospace engineering. The average GPA increased from 3.4 to 3.7 during the program. During the ten-week REU programs, students became part of a materials science and engineering faculty member's research group and were immersed in current research projects. Example research is described below. In addition, students attend presentation skills workshops, make a formal poster presentation of their research experience at the conclusion of the program, and submit a final written report describing their results. Students also receive a stipend and housing allowance. The REU successfully included students in leading-edge research. For example, integral to the NSF REU grant, students worked to eliminate melt dip and inhibit the growth and further spread of a dangerous liquid fire. This could occur in fires on home and aircraft furniture. A trilayer (TL) coating consisting of sodium montmorillonite (MMT), poly(allylamine hydrochloride) (PAH) and sodium hexametaphosphate (PSP) was developed using the layer-by-layer (LBL) method. The flame retardant properties of the thin film were tested using a micro hand held butane torch and cone calorimetry. Due to the intumescing behavior of the PAH and PSP, along with the thermal insulation from the MMT, it was found that the trilayer coating stopped the melt drip, slowed the progress of the flame and reduced the peak heat release rate, as determined by cone calorimetry. REU participants studied the effect of polyacrolyonitrile (PAN) nanofibers on unidirectional carbon fiber reinforced composite panels. Two types of composite panels were fabricated, bare and hybrid panels. For bare carbon fiber composite panels, the fabrication method used was vacuum assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM). On hybrid carbon fiber composite panels, PAN nanofibers were electrospun on each carbon fiber layer, then composite panels were prepared via VARTM. REU participants also studied the effect of stress triaxiality, plastic deformation, and fracture strength on notched tensile nanocomposite specimens. We conducted a computational study of the basic principles of plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) via simple parallel plates in dielectric barrier discharges (DBD) using a multi-species Lattice Botlzmann Model (LBM). Results for this non-thermal plasma study showed that the gap between electrodes has a major impact on the dischages and furthermore, that the charged species are the major elements in PECVD as observed in experiments at TAMU mechanical engineering. Exposure to revolutionary materials research in action is another significant outcome from the program. Students visited several NASA Johnson Space Center nano-materials research labs, in addition to labs on campus, and found this to be a highlight of the program. Overall, students surveyed responded that the REU had a positive impact on their knowledge of research, ability to work independently, confidence, patience and learning of new instruments and skills. Surveys showed about 60% of students are interested in graduate school. For example, "This program showed me the benefits of attending graduate school and gave me the real experience. It is because of this program that I will attend graduate school." In this program, participants are able to move to a new level in academic maturity where there is "Positive impact; I enjoyed the aspect of doing something new when doing research. It's much more interesting than reading a textbook full of facts." Few found that grad school was not for them. Several professional conference and archival journal papers have resulted from the REU. There were presentations at AIAA, ASEE, etc., (some by students). Papers were also published in related conference journals.
