NMHU-BioPACIFIC MIP collaboration in design, synthesis and applications of metal-organic hybrid biomaterials

New Mexico Highlands University (NMHU) is a small liberal arts university in Northern New Mexico. It has a student body composed of 53.6% Hispanic Americans and 66.4% women. Many of these students are from low-income first-generation college families.

This proposal presents a partnership with the NSF-supported BioPolymers, Automated Cellular Infrastructure, Flow, and integrated Chemistry Materials Innovation Platform (BioPACIFIC MIP) at University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) and University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Faculty in chemistry, biochemistry, computer science, geology, and chemical engineering will provide materials science education and hands-on training for research to students from underrepresented groups.

The Partnership in Research and Education for Materials (PREM) pathway, developed with collaborative efforts from NMHU, UCSB and UCLA, will focus on recruitment, retention, and degree attainment for the students. Professional development for students will take place throughout the year both at NMHU as well as in the BioPACIFIC MIP Summer School. At BioPACIFIC MIP PREM students will have networking opportunities at multiple levels including with community leaders, faculty, staff, graduate students, and postdocs as well as peer-to-peer.

The NMHU–BioPACIFIC MIP PREM will systematically engage high school students, undergraduates, graduate students, and postgraduates at all partner institutions. In New Mexico, at the high school level, the PREM will utilize dual credits for high school students and the Achieving in Research, Mathematics and Science (ARMAS) Center to encourage and engage students from underrepresented groups in science education programs.

At NMHU, in collaboration with BioPACIFIC MIP, two new materials science courses, devoted to an in-depth understanding of materials structure and properties, will be designed. The PREM program will involve at least 12 BS or MS NMHU PREM students per year. The research outcome will be disseminated through publications, with a goal of at least 10 articles per year in peer reviewed journals with student co-authors in at least 80% of those publications.

This project is partially supported with co-funding from the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).

The proposed research will include machine learning, materials synthesis, high-throughput automated chemistry/biosynthesis, and applications of organic-inorganic materials. By bridging machine learning and synthetic chemistry (closing the design loop), a wider combination of bioinspired building blocks will be designed to go beyond the current biomaterial landscape.

This will enable the use of two or more organic/inorganic components in one material which is necessary to tune structural, optical, electronic, and magnetic properties of a multi-component material. Resultant small molecules, organic polymers, and organic-inorganic porous materials will also allow for designing of biosensors, drug delivery systems, materials for chiral chromatography and templates for polymerization.

The partnership between NMHU and BioPACIFIC MIP will allow NMHU re-searchers and students to establish a new area of materials research at NMHU. Development of new expertise will be supported by access of NMHU faculty, postdoctoral fellows and students to scientific expertise and advanced instrumentation at BioPACIFIC MIP to rapidly accelerate discovery of materials.

The collaborative teams will hold research-focused group meetings via real-time video teleconferencing. Students will visit BioPACIFIC MIP laboratories. Two to three NMHU undergraduates will travel to BioPACIFIC MIP each year for summer research.

One or more NMHU MS students will go to BioPACIFIC MIP to take courses and do research for one semester, and a PREM Annual Retreat will be held each year, alternating between NMHU and UCSB.

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.