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Board 83: Materials Science and Engineering Research Perspective within the Functional Materials and Manufacturing Institute REU Program at University of South Florida

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Conference

2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Tampa, Florida

Publication Date

June 15, 2019

Start Date

June 15, 2019

End Date

June 19, 2019

Conference Session

NSF Grantees Poster Session

Tagged Topic

NSF Grantees Poster Session

Page Count

11

DOI

10.18260/1-2--32441

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/32441

Download Count

352

Paper Authors

biography

John Kuhn University of South Florida

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John Kuhn as a Faculty in the Department of Chemical & Biomedical Engineering at the University of South Florida. His research areas are heterogeneous catalysis, chemical reaction engineering, and biofuels. He is co-director of the NSF REU Site: REU in Functional Materials and Manufacturing at University of South Florida.

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biography

Venkat R. Bhethanabotla University of South Florida

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Venkat Bhethanabotla obtained his BS from Osmania University in Hyderabad, India, and Ph.D. from Penn State in Pennsylvania, USA, both in Chemical Engineering. He is professor in the Department of Chemical & Biomedical Engineering at University of South Florida. He serves as an associate editor for the IEEE Sensors Journal. Venkat is an elected Fellow of the AIChE, AAAS and AIMBE.

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Abstract

Functional materials are prevalent throughout the modern world and are constant reminders of advances from engineering. Thus, functional materials research with a mindset toward application/manufacturing is an outstanding topic to engage emerging researchers such as high school students, undergrads, and K12 teachers. This is exactly what is done at the Functional Materials and Manufacturing Institute (FMMI) at University of South Florida (USF) through the Research Experience for High School Students, Undergraduates and Teachers (REHSS, REU, and RET) programs. Materials science and engineering itself is in the process transitioning from the past ways of separate topics (e.g., metallurgy, ceramics, etc) to a modern mindset that includes emphases on hard and soft matter, bio-materials, and nano-materials, unified by an atomistic-level materials perspective. With this mindset, we postulate that materials research is entering discipline unspecific mindset, meaning that researchers across disciplines are interested and able to contribute to solving key problems. That is, researchers in materials science and engineering projects self-select based on interests which are independent of academic training. This hypothesis will be tested by analyzing the correlation between academic major and department of the research advisor for ~ 150 applicants to the NSF-site REU program at the USF FMMI. REU applicants are mainly from science (chemistry and physics) and engineering (chemical, mechanical, biomedical, materials, and electrical) disciplines, and are asked to rank three projects of interest among the potential projects proposed by faculty in similar fields. The results indicate that chemical engineers and chemists are more willing to select research projects advised by mentors in their non-major areas, whereas mechanical and electrical engineers and physics major are less prone to do so. Case studies for REU participants will be discussed for illustrations in which the disciplines between REU and faculty are similar and dissimilar. These initial findings demonstrate need for a more comprehensive study.

Kuhn, J., & Bhethanabotla, V. R. (2019, June), Board 83: Materials Science and Engineering Research Perspective within the Functional Materials and Manufacturing Institute REU Program at University of South Florida Paper presented at 2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Tampa, Florida. 10.18260/1-2--32441

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