REU Site: Southeastern Undergraduate Internship in Nanotechnology (SUIN)

This three-year renewal REU Site: Southeastern Undergraduate Internship in Nanotechnology (SUIN) is hosted by the Georgia Institute of Technology and the Joint School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering (JSNN), an academic collaboration between the University of North Carolina – Greensboro and North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. SUIN offers undergraduate students the opportunity to perform cutting-edge research at the forefront of nanoscale science and engineering (NSE).

This rapidly developing interdisciplinary field will allow students to see the connections across all science and engineering disciplines and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers. Research results obtained by the undergraduate participants will help in the advancement of understanding phenomena at the nanoscale and how this information can be used to improve applications in electronics, health, safety, environment, infrastructure important to our society.

The program will take place at the Institute for Matter and Systems at the Georgia Institute of Technology (IMS/GT) and at JSNN at University of North Carolina – Greensboro and North Carolina A&T University, which are the home of the Southeastern Nanotechnology Infrastructure Corridor (SENIC), a site of the National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure (NNCI). The project will recruit students to develop research and communication skills and to form strong relationships with faculty, mentors, and staff and with each other.

Professional development offerings will provide resources for participants to seek advanced degrees and NSE jobs.

The SUIN REU program will provide thorough training and compelling hands-on research experiences at state-of-the-art nanotechnology facilities (cleanroom, characterization, and assorted labs) at the Georgia Institute of Technology and JSNN. A large pool of faculty, mentors, and staff, dedicated to engaging undergraduates in research, will provide projects in a broad range of nanotechnology fields with substantial interdisciplinary content (such as flexible electronics, nanomotors, batteries, environmental filtration, medical, etc.).

The goals of the SUIN program are to: 1. Provide an experiential nanotechnology research project with training on advanced equipment and tools which exposes students to the breadth of NSE research topics; 2. Encourage students to explore and pursue graduate-level research and careers in STEM and NSE; 3.

Recruit and provide opportunities for students from non-research institutions; 4. Enhance student communication and presentation skills and understanding of ethical issues in scientific research; and 5. Train interns in science communication, entrepreneurship, and the societal and ethical implications of nanoscale science and engineering.

Undergraduate participants will be safely and quickly trained to use the processes and equipment needed to carry out their research projects. This advanced training will allow them to complete a well-defined nanoscale research project and present the results at the end of program convocation at a NNCI site. Participants will have opportunities to see the breadth of nanoscale science and engineering and its applications across many disciplines.

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.