This three-year renewal REU Site program at the University of Arkansas will be hosted by the interdisciplinary Microelectronics-Photonics (microEP) graduate program, a program started through a partnership between the College of Engineering and the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences in 1998. This 10-week program is designed to: 1) provide undergraduate participants with an understanding and training of basic concepts in micro to nanoscale materials and processing, with emphasis on enabling new devices technologies; 2) develop the ability to design, analyze, and simulate nanostructures and devices; 3) prepare students with the tools they need to carry out effective research, including personnel skills such as team work, communication and organization skills; and 4) deliver the experience needed to encourage participants' future interest in developing economically feasible and innovative applications of nanoscale engineering. During the 10-week period, a one credit-hour Ethics course will be conducted. The course will be available for credit to REU students, and will also be attended by microEP graduate students for graduate credit.
In order to enhance the research experience, the students will be engaged in a series of enrichment activities that will help them become more confident as researchers, including extensive weekly tours of available instrumentation labs containing X-ray crystallography, Raman spectroscopy, Fourier transform spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray photoluminescence instruments, a special workshop to introduce them to the process of writing an NSF Graduate Fellowship proposal, a workshop on taking the Graduate Research Exam, and a proctored practice exam. Social activities will be an integral part of the students' experience with goal of building friendships and collegiality between the participants.
In addition to the ten REU undergraduates this program will include two K-12 science teachers. Teachers will spend each of the three summers of the REU program working directly with research teams in their chosen area of study. During an eight-week period, teachers will have an opportunity to study their field in depth, improving depth of knowledge in a target subject. They will be offered 6 credit hours to complete a graduate study course in inquiry based pedagogy and lab instruction. Over the following school year, the teachers will return to the campus to continue their research and attend seminars focused on teaching the concepts, learning what to teach, and providing for a network of teachers and university faculty. The RET teachers will disseminate the results of their experience to other teachers. They will develop web accessible inquiry based teaching modules describing their research. After having experienced research, the teachers will have a deeper understanding of how scientists use inquiry to develop research concepts. In order to capture this understanding and develop it into a teaching tool, the teachers will be offered an opportunity to join the on-going GK-12 program which includes a four-week teacher-fellow training period.
What are the broader impacts of the proposed activity? Recruitment efforts will be targeted to underrepresented students and first generation college students whose career ambitions are well matched to the educational and research focus of microEP program. The PI will utilize these partnership organizations: 1) UA Carver Program (HBCU institutions), 2) the Arkansas and Texas LSAMP programs, and 3) two-year technical colleges as Pulaski Technical College in his recruitment efforts.
This REU Site program will have a broad impact by giving the next generation of innovators the opportunity to develop their creativity at the nanoscale.
This REU site was sponsored by the University of Arkansas' interdisciplinary engineering/science graduate program in micro to nanoscale material, processing, and devices known as the Microelectronics-Photonics (µEP) Graduate Program. Detailed information on this host graduate program may be found at http://microEP.uark.edu. This was the third REU site grant hosted by the µEP Graduate Program, with eleven of the twelve summers from 2001-2012 supported by these three REU site grants. In those eleven summers there were a total of 147 total participants, with 38 female participants (26%) and 38 African-American or Hispanic participants (26%). Of the 147 total participants 33 continued their education to graduate degrees at the University of Arkansas (22%), with many others continuing into graduate programs at other institutions. As only nine of the 33 participants continuing to graduate studies at the University of Arkansas completed their BS degrees here, it does indicate that the µEP REU sites were effective in introducing a wide geographical distribution of students to the graduate education opportunities in both our traditional and interdisciplinary STEM programs. Participants in our REU site were selected using several criteria, but with the overarching philosophy of picking the strongest students rather than selecting students matched to particular projects. The criteria included time remaining to BS degree, a strong interest in exploring the possibility of continuing their education beyond the BS degree, and a clearly expressed interest in research at the nanoscale. Recruitment activities were widely-based, but included a first round selection priority given to students at the partner institutions to the University of Arkansas Graduate School's George Washington Carver Project summer research program (http://grad.uark.edu/carver/index.php). After the participants were selected they were matched to available summer research projects across multiple engineering and science departments using both each participant's indication of research professor and our program's interest in moving students outside of their departmental comfort zones into true interdisciplinary research efforts. The program gave participants exposure to multiple elements of the graduate research environment. First each participant worked in a tenured faculty member's research group with a graduate student mentor. Second, participants met in a weekly REU group research meeting where each participant's progress was reported using Microsoft Project software provided by the University. Third, participants in all summer research programs joined for weekly "dinner and dialog" presentations on graduate school preparation. Fourth, participants toured the various analytical instrument labs on campus (regardless of whether or not they wee using the instruments in their own research) o broaden awareness of different types of research available in graduate STEM fields. Finally, participants went on a three day trip to the Dallas area in order to tour three advanced nanoscale processing facilities. One aspect of this summer research program that may be unique is its planned partnership and shared activities with the other summer research programs on the University of Arkansas campus. All summer research programs start on the same day and share activities in an attempt to create a super-community of all summer research program participants. Specific activities designed to build personal relationships across the entire super-community include a one day creativity camp put on by this µEP REU site on the second full day on campus, weekly dinner and dialog meetings organized by the Graduate School, and once per week evening social activities. These social activities have included such things as bowling, movie and ice cream, cookout at a Fayetteville lake and park, and cookout at Devil's Den State Park about 20 miles south of Fayetteville. These activities have the effect of breaking down the cliques of students that seem to form around such common background factors as summer program, school size/geographical location, participant gender, and participant race. Of course the research experience itself is a prime consideration for any REU site, and exit surveys show general satisfaction with participants' research experiences. Of more importance is that all participants expressed that the REU site experience gave them a much better idea of what would be expected as a graduate student. Most said that they were more inclined to consider graduate school as a result of their summer experiences, although some said that it showed them that entering the workforce after completion of the BS degree was the better path for them. The Management teams of the µEP REU site and Graduate Program feel both of these conclusions are valuable, as participants are more likely to pick the path that is best suited for their professional careers and personal lives. We feel that each participant making the right choice of what is best for him or her is both best for our country and produces the highest return on the investment the NSF has made in our REU site.
