Nontechnical Abstract Our goal is to train a cohort of early-stage chemistry and chemical engineering graduate students to the connecting M3 cycle consisting of synthesis (Make), innovative measurements (Measure) and system modeling and sustainable operation (Model), in the context of applied chemistry in Germany. This M3 cycle is critically important in modern chemistry as it represents the most effective way to achieve rapid advances in chemical synthesis and the understanding of chemical transformations, yet this cycle is not broadly implemented in the U.S. chemical science curriculum. The proposed educational excursion will train students to better understand the interrelationship between academia and industry, as well as intercultural differences that they will encounter in a global economy. We aim to use this educational approach as an attractor to recruit highly motivated doctoral students who wish to specialize in innovative measurements, while helping them connect to the broader concept of the M3 cycle, and so contribute to society as interdisciplinary and intercultural ambassadors. There is an intertwined need in chemistry education: (i) to train the next generation experts in advanced and new chemical measurement technology, and (ii) to teach them how to conduct, view and present their specialized and novel measurement methods in the context of problems of utmost interest to chemistry, at the nexus of science discovery and societal needs. Graduate students who have carried out their studies at the M3 interface will undoubtedly think differently as leaders in their field and have a better understanding to connect to the German chemistry landscape. The successes of the M3 educational experience is expected to help inform the development of new courses and emphases for chemistry graduate programs.
Expert groups in advanced magnetic resonance at University of California-Santa Barbara (UCSB) (Han), University of California-Berkeley (UCB)(Reimer), University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA)(Bouchard) and the Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule (RWTH)in Aachen, Germany (Blümich) joined together to pool their advanced analytical tools to work on integrated problem-solving in a three-way M3 cycle, in synergistic collaboration with chemistry and engineering colleagues to concentrate their efforts on the training of a cohort of graduate students. Several research groups at the RWTH Aachen University are ideal partners to pursue this educational endeavor, not only because the RWTH is ranked #1 in forging chemistry-engineering partnerships, but also because there are strong existing multi-PI collaborations between the UCLA/UCSB/UCB and RWTH PIs that the IRES fellows can immerse themselves in. A cohort of 5-7 graduate students per year will be selected and recruited in the first year of their doctoral studies, with the goal to integrate their research and training in the M3 cycle throughout their entire graduate career with leveraging support and collaborative backing. These select students will be prepared pre-departure with weekly online sessions on the German language and culture. The IRES cohort will gather at UCSB for an orientation conference ahead of their departure and travel to Aachen in the summer following the first year of their doctoral studies. The expected outcome is that the graduate students have gained hands-on experience on how to accelerate the discovery and triaging of chemical, materials and system parameters and how to design reaction pathways given a set of starting chemicals. This learning process and evolution will be shared at an annual workshop involving current and past IRES fellows. The effectiveness of the IRES fellows program will be evaluated, and their professional connection within the cohort and the collaborators maintained through social media.
