Washington State University's Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Site on "Characterization of Advanced Materials" has been in operation since 1999. Faculty from Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Chemistry, Civil Engineering, and Chemical Engineering design projects suitable for undergraduate students each summer. These projects use advanced materials characterization techniques such as electron microscopy, scanning probe microscopy, and other methods to understand the relationships between the processing, structure and properties of materials. Eleven undergraduate students including freshmen and sophomores from a wide variety of disciplines and schools are recruited nationwide every year for a ten-week summer research experience, coupled with a short overview tutorial on the breadth of techniques to be used by the student researchers. The Site also adds new faculty members over its life to encourage starting faculty to provide significant undergraduate research experiences. In addition, students attend a short series of workshops on the use of the various characterization instruments and tools. Students present their work in a campus wide poster session at the end of the summer. This site is co-funded by the Department of Defense in partnership with the NSF REU program and the NSF Division of Materials Research in the Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorate.
Characterization of Advanced Materials, a research experience for undergraduates site program at Washington State University, has been running since 1999. 130 students from over 62 colleges and universities have spent 10 weeks during each summer working full time in developing and utilizing methods of characterizing the structure, properties, and performance of materials. During the summers of 2008-2010 projects related from measuring the structure of advanced aluminum alloys to assessing the strength of ultra-strong metal films to determining the defects which are responsible for the growth of tin whiskers have been carried out. The intellectual merit of the work has resulted in several publications in peer reviewed journals, with titles such as "Carbon nanofiber/polyetherimide composite membranes with special dielectric properties" and "Effect of Electroplating Bath Temperature on Sn Surface Morphology". The broader impact of the project has been to greatly improve access to high-tech materials characterization tools such as electron microscopes, atomic force microscopes, and nanoscale mechanical testing tools to undergraduates from all over the country, with WSU hosting 10 to 11 students each summer from universities as far away as South Carolina and as close as Spokane WA. In addition, the following metrics demonstrate our ability to improve the number and quality of undergraduates in science and engineering with advanced skills: Retention in undergraduate science and engineering programs Retention at this point is over 95%, with only 3 students we are aware of not graduating or remaining in science and engineering programs. As retention is best assessed for students in their first two years of college (i.e. retaining seniors is not a remarkable event), 48% of the students who have participated in the WSU REU were underclassmen (just completed Freshman or Sophomore year). We are particulalry focused on ensuring students at all levels of college can participate; our program is not only for rising seniors. Publications and presentations involving REU participants 56 publications and presentations at national/international meetings have been made with REU participants and support over the past 12 years. Percentage of students that go on to graduate school and stay in engineering and science careers. Almost 80% of the students report going to or applying to graduate schools after the program. Of those that don't, all but 3 have gone to science and engineering jobs in industry. Percentage of REU participants who are from traditionally under-represented demographic groups in science and engineering 50 of the 132 (37%) participants were women, 21 of the 132 (16%) participants have been from underrepresented demographic groups (African American, Pacific Islander, or Hispanic). Improved student understanding of the research process In general the students begin each summer expecting to spend up to 20% of their time "discussing projects with advisor and other students", and 33% of their time running experiments. By the end of the program, the students report discussing takes only 7% of the time and experiments take 30% of the time (i.e. they become more independent and recognize that they have grown in capability). This is important for teaching future researchers what they are "getting into" and trying out a real career option while they still can choose easily between positions in industry and graduate school options. The REU program at WSU has been able to help students from over 19 degree programs get a chance to "test drive" a research experience, and helped the students make informed decisions about their future career paths.
