The Intelligent Energetic Systems Engineering (INTENSE) REU at New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (NMIMT, New Mexico Tech) will engage undergraduate students in unique research related to robotics, smart materials, explosives, high-speed fluid dynamics, and shock physics. There is a distinct need for more US citizens with research experience to fill science and engineering positions across the country, particularly for the Department of Defense (DOD), Department of Energy (DOE), and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) complexes and associated industrial bases. Students involved in this REU will complete individual research and design projects directly related to federally-funded research being performed at NMIMT; building skills, knowledge, and exposure to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines relevant to these national hiring needs. The research projects will investigate the interdisciplinary engineering and science of intelligent and energetic systems, including specific projects to explore human-robot interactions and feedback, and the complex chemical-thermo-fluid-dynamics of reacting energetic material systems. Participants will be exposed to cutting edge research facilities at NMIMT and at prominent national facilities through tours of Sandia National Laboratories and Kirtland Air Force Base Space Vehicles and Directed Energy Directorates. Students will be recruited primarily from Southwestern US institutions with limited undergraduate research opportunities. INTENSE REU will have focused recruitment of under-represented populations of Hispanic, Native American, and Veteran minorities, supporting NMIMT?s Hispanic Serving Institution status.
The INTENSE REU objectives and impacts are to increase interest in STEM research and graduate studies, increase technical knowledge of Intelligent and Energetic Systems, increase research skills, increase exposure to STEM career opportunities, engage students in long-term STEM mentoring relationships, and enhance STEM opportunities for minority and under-represented populations. Each summer, eight students will participate in a nine-week program conducting research in laboratories with faculty and graduate student mentors, exploring intelligent and energetic systems. Energetic systems topics including explosives, propulsion, shock physics, and high-rate impacts are taught at extremely few universities nationally, with NMIMT being a recognized national leader in the field. INTENSE REU participants will be exposed to unique research involving intelligent and energetic systems that is being performed through a range of federal funding mechanisms, including support from federally funded research and development centers (FFRDCs). Participants will broaden their engineering ?toolbox? through hands-on research and a series of group Toolbox Development Activities covering topics including: library resources, experiment planning, data analysis, and technical communication. Students will connect with each other and their faculty and graduate-student mentors through weekly social lunch gatherings and by presenting a three-minute speech and technical poster in an end-of-summer technical conference held at NMIMT. Mentor training for faculty and graduate students will improve relationships, increase research effectiveness, and provide long-term connections with REU students. Targeted student recruitment will result in under-represented minority students with no access to research at their undergraduate institutions to be exposed to STEM research of national interest, and thus expanding the diversity of the national workforce.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
