This ten week REU site program at Rice University will provide community college students with a hands-on research experience in the field of nanotechnology. Specific research areas span the whole range of nanotechnology, including the synthesis and characterization of new nanomaterials such as carbon nanotubes and quantum dots (QDs); application of nanomaterials to air and water purification; nanoparticle (NP) photonics and plasmonics; application of nanomaterials in medical imaging, diagnosis, and treatment; and engineering the energetics of nanomaterials.
The ethics component of this program will provide a framework for the research experience and will allow students to explore the ethical implications of anthropological and historical studies. To enhance the hands-on research experience, a variety of activities have been incorporated. These include: tours of local research labs such as the Johnson Space Center and ExxonMobile; instruction in public presentation; a poster session workshop; and social activities. At the conclusion of the research experience, the students will present their research findings in a competitive formal poster session to research faculty, staff and students.
This program will specifically focus recruitment efforts on community college students in the Texas Gulf Coast area. These schools (San Jacinto Community College, Lonestar College, Galveston Community College, College of the Mainland, Wharton, and Houston Community College) will provide a diverse pool of talented future researchers who might not otherwise have the resources or opportunities to pursue careers in research.
This REU program will serve as a bridge between two-year and four-year colleges and will be a pipeline for these students to graduate school. Participants in this program will have the unique opportunity to work with at-risk inner-city high school students in the Rice University JP Morgan Chase Science and Engineering Career Academy, serve as mentors for these students and interact with high school teacher interns.
Results from the research will be disseminated via student publications in The Journal of Young Investigators, faculty publications in peer-reviewed engineering education journals, on the Rice NanoREU Website, on the National Center for Learning and Teaching in Nanoscale Science and Engineering Resource Portal and via YouTube videos.
