This Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) site project is in the chemistry of materials. For a three-year period, beginning in April 1989 twelve (12) undergraduate students will spend ten (10) weeks engaged in materials chemistry research, under the direction of eleven (11) senior faculty members from both Syracuse and SUNY at Potsdam. Four very closely related areas of chemical research in materials science will be investigated. The first aspect involves the design, synthesis and characterization of new organometallic compounds with enhanced properties for use in thin-film depositional techniques such as organometallic vapor phase epitaxial (OMVPE) and molecular beam epitaxial (MBE) processes. The second aspect is the preparation and characterization of new materials from the organometallic precursor compounds described above. The third aspect involves the study of the physico-chemical properties of these new materials. The final aspect deals with the chemical applications of these new materials to a variety of problems.
