As global concerns over the environmental impacts of plastic waste continue to grow, new solutions for providing sustainable materials are desperately needed, along with globally-minded scientists and engineers to deliver them. This IRES Track I project seeks to develop such solutions while exploring new frontiers of biobased plastics and materials and training the next generation of innovative problem solvers. Through the proposed program, U.S. graduate and undergraduate students from at Arizona State University (ASU) and Navajo Technical University (NTU) will travel to and participate in hands-on research projects in the Department of Biobased Materials at Kyoto Institute of Technology (KIT) in Kyoto, Japan. For 10 weeks each Summer, this project will provide training opportunities for 3 graduate and 6 undergraduate student participants; or 9 and 18 total participants, respectively, over the duration of the 3-year project. Students will be embedded into the labs of KIT faculty, collaborating and working closely with them and their students. By engaging students in a series of meaningful research experiences, this project seeks to spark and/or further cultivate their interest in biotechnology, materials science, and sustainability, while strengthening their enthusiasm for advanced studies and careers in STEM disciplines. Through partnership with NTU, along with a conscientious overall recruitment strategy, this project will also provide important STEM research opportunities for students from under-represented groups. In addition to impactful research experiences, tours of industrial sites and government research facilities will be offered to improve the professional preparation of students and their understanding of future career opportunities in this field. Student participants will also take part in a series of unique cultural activities. Ultimately, by offering this project internationally at a university with world-class faculty and research facilities and in a city with unparalleled cultural amenities, this program will also help to strengthen student identities as members of a global scientific community, while impressing upon them the importance of collaboration for providing solutions to complex global problems. By enhancing the production of bioplastics, outcomes of this project offer the promise to reduce dependence on non-renewable oil and natural gas as well as, in many cases, the potential to positively impact the carbon cycle by consuming atmospheric CO2, a greenhouse gas.
Part 2: The goals of the specific projects to be offered via this program span the continuum of relevant research challenges facing the production of biobased plastics and materials, including from upstream conversion, to polymer synthesis and materials development, to characterization of the resulting products, to their ultimate biodegradation. Students in the program will receive comprehensive training in one or more the following areas: i) applied microbiology and bioprocess engineering to enhance the availability of diverse, bio-derived monomers; ii) polymer chemistry and engineering for producing new bioplastics from bio-derived monomers; iii) engineering of novel fibers and materials from diverse sources (e.g., bamboo and silk) and for various applications; iv) synthesis and characterization of novel, functionalized biomaterials for biomedical applications; v) development of new analytical techniques for high-throughput screening of novel monomers and nanostructural characterization of biobased materials and plastics; and vi) investigation of sustainable methods for bioplastic degradation. This program will also provide numerous opportunities for direct engagement between faculty members across schools, enabling it to serve as an effective platform for fostering long-term, multi-disciplinary research collaborations between institutions. Ultimately, enhanced bioplastics production offers the promise to reduce dependence on non-renewable oil and natural gas while positively impacting the carbon cycle by consuming atmospheric CO2.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
