REU Site: Interdisciplinary, Multiscale Materials Modeling (I3M)

This Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) site supports the training of 9 undergraduate students (fellows) each summer from 2021 to 2023 at the University of Louisville in Louisville, KY. Students will participate in a 10-week program that focuses on developing their skills as researchers though training in research ethics, data collection and analysis, and reproducibility of scientific results.

The theme of the REU site is Interdisciplinary Multiscale Materials Modeling (I3M) which combines concepts in chemistry, physics, biology, materials science, engineering, mathematics, and computational sciences with the goal of better understanding the origins of specific material properties on size scales from single molecules to macroscopic devices. Fellows will work as researchers with faculty mentors who all currently supervise active research teams in I3M thematic areas.

During the program, fellows will participate in several professional development activities to advance competence through team-building experiences, a professional seminar series, a public poster symposium, and a field trip to a national laboratory. The I3M program will improve students’ communication skills, grow networks of research colleagues, and develop the students’ awareness of contemporary issues in research.

The scientific/engineering knowledge and professional skills gained by fellows during the 10-week program will promote the growth of a more well-informed, well-trained, and diverse workforce.

A team of 18 faculty mentors have developed 16 projects for REU fellows that cover a wide range of scientific topics, applications, and methods. Several projects include both computational and experimental aspects. Projects topics include but are not limited to predicting biomimetic polymer properties, developing empirical models for colloidal self-assembly, probing interactions between viral particles and medical devices, improving models of cancer growth and drug transport, discovering new electrocatalysts, and non-invasively diagnosing coronary artery disease.

Models and methods span several orders of magnitude in time and space and utilize density functional theory, molecular dynamics, Monte Carlo, computational fluid dynamics, and continuum models. Non-research activities will give fellows a wider perspective on what it means to be a professional scientist or engineer through training in ethics, accurate data recording, and reliable and reproducible methods.

The I3M REU site emphasizes the recruitment and training of diverse cohorts of student fellows who represent the country at large while promoting the advancement of historically underrepresented groups and marginalized students. Fellows will graduate the program with the skills and drive to become future leaders in the field of materials science and engineering.

This project is jointly funded by the Division of Engineering Education and Centers (Directorate for Engineering), and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).

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.