REU Site: Materials Make the World, A Dartmouth College REU Site in Materials Science

Non-technical summary

Dartmouth College will host a Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) site that prepares and mentors undergraduates who might not have otherwise considered Materials Science and Engineering as a career option. Ten undergraduates spend nine weeks at Dartmouth during the summer during which they receive substantive, hands-on research experience.

Student participants share in the creation of new materials that will eventually find their way into improved products and services that benefit broader society. In conjunction, they learn to communicate this information effectively to both a range of scientists and non-scientists. Half of the student positions are reserved for under-represented minorities, there is a 50:50 gender balance, and half the students are recruited students from non-research-intensive universities and colleges in order to broaden participation in the field.

Under the guidance of Faculty mentors, the students gain both practical Materials Science research experience in the laboratory, and also learn about the breadth and value of materials science in the classroom from experts in the field. They also engage in professional development activities that include the development of research data for publication, public presentation of research results, professional networking, Graduate Record Examination coaching and preparation, and training in the Responsible Conduct of Research.

Technical summary

The REU site prepares and mentors undergraduates who might not have otherwise considered Materials Science and Engineering as a career option. Ten undergraduates spend nine weeks at Dartmouth during the summer during which they receive substantive, hands-on research experience on a variety of topics including Multifunctional Electronic Textiles for Health and Protection, Understanding the Origin of Two-Level Systems in Al2O3, Engineering the Interface of Sodium Ceramic Electrolytes for Sodium Metal, Advanced Medium Entropy Alloy Soft Magnets, Fabrication of conductive 3D-printed carbon materials, Fabrication and Property Tuning of Polymer-Derived Ceramics, Measurements of Nonlinear Dielectric Behavior in MnZn, Ice Growth on Surfaces with Variable Material Properties, Controlling the photophysical properties of liquid crystals using switchable, Band Engineering of 2D-Conducting Oxide Semiconductors for Flexible Electronics, and High-efficiency, high-temperature solar selective absorber coatings.

The student participants share in the creation of new materials that will eventually find their way into improved products and services that benefit broader society. In conjunction, they learn to communicate this information effectively to both a range of scientists and non-scientists. Half of the student slots are reserved for under-represented minorities, there is a 50:50 gender balance, and half the students are recruited students from non-research-intensive universities and colleges in order to broaden participation in the field.

Under the guidance of Faculty mentors, the students gain both practical Materials Science research experience in the laboratory, and also learn about the breadth and value of materials science in the classroom from experts in the field. They also engage in professional development activities that include the development of research data for publication, public presentation of research results, professional networking, Graduate Record Examination coaching and preparation, and training in the Responsible Conduct of Research.

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.