"Measuring Molecules: A Research Experience for Undergraduates"
(NSF RESEARCH EXPERIENCES FOR UNDERGRADUATES PROGRAM)
Proposal Number: 0097486
The University of Pittsburgh's Department of Chemistry will conduct a three year, summer Research Experiences for Undergraduates, beginning in June, 2001. The old divisions of Chemistry (Organic, Physical, Analytical, Inorganic, Biochemical) have given way to a more integrated Chemistry world in which active researchers Make, Model, or Measure chemical properties or processes. With this proposal, we will focus the theme of our entire program on the area of measuring. Ten talented undergraduate students will be recruited each summer, from across the nation, to work, within the departmental research groups, on active projects that have a measuring theme. The projects available each year will vary and will range in scope from traditional to instrument intensive, from one discipline to multi-discipline in flavor, from specific target oriented to more open ended projects. Each student will select an academic sponsor based upon the student's interest in the web-accessed abstracts and will work closely with her or him and their research group. In addition, each student will be paired with a graduate student or post-doctoral mentor within that group to ensure timely answers and advice as is necessary. Each student will be allotted full group privileges and responsibilities. Close interaction with their sponsor and their daily mentor will provide ample opportunity for personal scientific development under master teachers. In addition to the major effort on an individually designed research project, the students will participate in a weekly series of Academic Tutorials designed to demonstrate the range of measurements necessary for a technologically advancing society and the relationship of such topics across the entire Chemistry discipline and extending well beyond classically defined Chemistry areas. The professional leaders for these Tutorials will be drawn from the Chemistry Department, other Science departments on campus, and the Industrial community. A number of opportunities will be available throughout the summer for informal interaction with a range of faculty and departmental research personnel, in scientific and social situations. Near the end of the summer program, each student will participate in a regional summer poster presentation that spans several science disciplines. The program will culminate in a public Chemistry Symposium in which each participant will give a 15-minute talk followed by a 5-minute discussion period.
REU Web page maintained by Prof. Joseph J. Grabowski. Updated