IRES Track 1: Soft Matter Research Experience for North Carolina Graduate Students in Dresden

“Soft matter” refers to soft materials that are easily mechanically deformable, such as polymers, colloids, and biomaterials. Research in soft matter will broadly impact society by addressing challenges in medicine, electronics, energy, sustainability, agriculture, and manufacturing. Soft matter has potential to provide unprecedented capabilities, at lower cost, and with reduced environmental impact.

International exchange of students in this International Research Experiences for Students (IRES) project will advance soft matter research through sharing ideas and experimental capabilities and will promote the U.S. students’ professional development through participation in an academic cohort and conducting research abroad. Cohorts of PhD students from North Carolina State University (NCSU), Duke University, and University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (UNC) will participate in 10-week summer research experiences in soft matter at the Dresden University of Technology and associated research institutes (TUD+).

The cohort of North Carolina (NC) students will have pre-departure activities in NC and will travel and live together in Dresden, Germany, where they will conduct research with different hosts but will have a common academic and social program. This project further aims to catalyze development of long-term collaborations between NC and Dresden researchers.

Dresden has a dynamic research environment that has received massive investment since German reunification and is welcoming to visiting researchers. Several research clusters and centers throughout TUD+ support large-scale programs in soft matter. Hosts at TUD+ will prepare brief descriptions of research projects for IRES students.

An initial group of 17 hosts spanning all areas of soft matter have expressed interest in hosting IRES students. The hosts will be vetted by the principal foreign collaborator and will provide office and lab space, supplies and equipment for research, mentoring, and training for the research project. PhD students from NCSU, Duke, and UNC will be selected based on their academic preparation, letter of recommendation, essays articulating their interest in the IRES experience, and matching with the available research projects.

Participation of underrepresented groups will be promoted by contacting local chapters of science and engineering societies for underrepresented groups at NCSU, Duke, and UNC. The IRES cohort will live together and have a weekly research meeting. At the end of the summer, the IRES students will present their results in a research symposium.

Several outings around Dresden and a brief trip to Berlin to visit selected scientific and cultural institutions and historical sites will educate the cohort about the broader societal and historical context in which scientific research is conducted and its importance to economic prosperity and political stability.

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.