The Vanderbilt Institute for Nanoscale Science and Engineering (VINSE) summer REU program will offer science and engineering undergraduate students the opportunity to work closely with faculty on research projects in the field of nanoscale science and engineering. VINSE faculty will provide REU students with an interdisciplinary research experience in an environment where physicists, chemists, biologists, and engineers collaboratively solve problems and create new scientific understanding. The overarching theme of the research is nano-materials innovation and fabrication for a wide range of applications from materials for drug delivery to efficient solar energy conversion. In nano-materials, the key structural features are about 1 thousandth of the width of a human hair.
Nanoscience and nanotechnology are based on the ability to synthesize, organize, characterize, and manipulate matter systematically at the nanoscale, creating uniquely functional materials which can be inorganic, organic or biological, or a hybrid of any two or more of these. Consequently, nanoscience and nanotechnology pose formidable challenges that cut across traditionally distinct disciplines. Clearly, to meet these demands, the training of future scientists and engineers in the broad field of nanotechnology is of paramount importance. The interdisciplinary nature of nanoscale science and engineering means it inherently involves all of the sciences and engineering, resulting in the need to train students at all levels in an interdisciplinary manner. This should include an appreciation for the way a solid grounding in the undergraduate major program prepares for interdisciplinary research, and gaining a real-world perspective of the need for their research to progress "beyond the bench". This REU will provide precisely this opportunity by combining Vanderbilt's unique interdisciplinary research opportunities at the nanoscale, with participation in research in a discipline-based experimental laboratory or computational setting. Consequently, students trained through this interdisciplinary summer program will leave with an appreciation of the skills needed to successfully contribute to the emerging disciplines of nanoscience and nanotechnology. The REU students will also be offered the opportunity for training in the integration of research with education and outreach through participation in the Vanderbilt Summer Academy for gifted high school students who have expressed an interest in nanoscience and nanotechnology.
This REU site is co-funded by the NSF Divisions of Materials Science (DMR) and Engineering Education and Centers (ENG/EEC).
The Vanderbilt Institute for Nanoscale Science and Engineering (VINSE) summer REU program offered science and engineering undergraduate students the opportunity to work closely with faculty on research projects in the field of nanoscale science and engineering. The goals of the program were for VINSE faculty to provide REU students with an interdisciplinary research experience in an environment where physicists, chemists, biologists, and engineers collaboratively solve problems and create new scientific understanding. The overarching theme of the research was nano-materials innovation and fabrication for a wide range of applications from materials for drug delivery to efficient solar energy conversion. The REU program was offered on the Vanderbilt campus in the Summers of 2011, 2012 and 2013. In total 30 students participated in undergraduate research as part of the REU program and an addition 21 as REU affiliates. The students each worked with a VINSE faculty mentor and a graduate student mentor on a wide range of research projects and were trained in several skills and techniques as related to nanoscale science and engineering research. Training was also provided for the faculty and graduate student mentors in mentoring. Additionally, the REU students attended several required and optional training professional development sessions, including ethics training, graduate school applications, GRE preparation, and presenting a research poster, and participated in outreach to middle and high school students The 30 REU students have in total given 23 presentations outside of the REU program (i.e., at university or national meetings) and been co-authors on 9 archival journal publications. Fourteen students are attending graduate school and of these students, two have received NSF Graduate Research Fellowships, two have received Goldwater Fellowships and one a Gates Cambridge Scholarship.
