The Cornell Center for Materials Research (CCMR) offers a discipline-spanning Research Experience for Undergraduates Site closely affiliated with its NSF-funded Materials Research Science and Engineering Center. The program, covering a wide variety of scientific and engineering topics, is strategically designed to integrate research and education. Participants undertake research projects covering a broad range of materials-related areas including the synthesis, simulation and testing of new materials such as nanoparticles and fibers, and devices. The combined Site and Center programs enroll close to forty students annually from across the Nation for the ten-week summer research experience. Weekly seminars, field trips, group dinners, mini-courses, a presentation workshop, a graduate school panel discussion and a concluding symposium serve to create an energizing group experience. Exposure to different perspectives on scientific research helps students to understand the many different pathways leading to a career in science and engineering. Each year, this site also supports nine teachers in a specially tailored 8-week research immersion program. An additional 3-day annual teacher workshop offers fifteen past participants the opportunity to share materials-related lessons with their peers.
Both teachers and undergraduates have access to key scientific resources including the CCMR shared experimental facilities. Through their summer experience, participants gain a wider perspective on research than they might see as part of their regular activities. CCMR actively promotes the involvement of women and underrepresented groups and has a special emphasis on recruiting students from predominantly undergraduate institutions and teachers from schools serving disadvantaged communities.
