This project will establish an NSF Research Experience for Undergraduate site in aerospace and mechanical engineering. The Recruitment of student candidates for this program will concentrate on universities within 500 miles of Notre Dame, Indiana. Several universities outside of the area that do not have graduate programs will also be contacted. With the assistance of the National Consortium for Graduate Degrees for Minorities, Inc., minority students will be encouraged to apply to the program. The students selected will participate in a meaningful research experience for two summer month eliminating in a presentation of the results of their efforts. The program is designed to increase the awareness of qualified undergraduate students in engineering or science of the opportunities afforded by a career in research for those who pursue graduate studies. Student research projects include camera-assisted manipulator placement precision structural design of flight vehicles, trajectonics of micron-size droplets used for low thrust propulsion in space, shockwave/turbulant boundary lay interactions, and interferometer mapping of three dimensional temperature fields.
