This three-year renewal REU Site program at Louisiana Tech University in Micro/Nanoengineering will focus on the Scientific Method and Engineering Design Process as frameworks for developing students as independent researchers. The REU program will work with 9 undergraduate students per year over a 10 week period in the summer to provide a research experience in micro/nano engineering, train them more formally on the research issues, and make them aware of issues related to analyzing, interpreting and reporting. The students' experience will culminate in a journal article-style report, a formal oral presentation, and an NSF-style research proposal detailing the next phase in their work. The intellectual merit of this proposal is in the micro/nano engineering research that will be accomplished. Ongoing work in this area includes development of microcantelever sensors, microfluidics, carbon nanotubes, tissue scaffolds, and drug-delivery methods along with investigation of material-cell interactions and cellular responses to nanostructures.
The broader impact of the proposal is in the preparation of undergraduates for careers in research. The targeted participants will be students who are in undergraduate programs in Engineering, or the Sciences. Recruitment efforts will target women and minority students into the program, particularly underrepresented students from Grambling State University, Southern University, Prairie View A&M, Jackson State University, Alcorn State University, Mississippi Valley State University, Alabama A&M University, Alabama State University, Texas Southern University and Texas Women's University and other universities in the region which have limited laboratory research opportunities for students. Student deliverables will be analyzed to determine the impact of the Scientific Method and Engineering Design Process frameworks on the ability to perform research.
