REU Site: Biological Materials and Processes (BioMaP)

REU 网站：生物材料和工艺 (BioMaP)

• 批准号: 1852125
• 负责人: Monica Lamm
• 金额: $ 35.12万
• 依托单位: Iowa State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-05-01 至 2024-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1852125&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: REU; Site; Biological; Materials; Processes

This renewal of a Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Site at Iowa State University (ISU) entitled, Biological Materials and Processes (BioMaP), will create novel research experiences for a talented and diverse group of undergraduate students from traditionally underrepresented populations, with limited access to STEM research opportunities. The cross-disciplinary nature of BioMaP enables students to discover the exciting biology/interface and will focus on two research themes. (1) Biological Materials - The interface between biology and materials can be exploited to design robust materials with unique properties. In this context, biological materials are synthetic materials that interact with biological molecules/systems in specific ways to promote biological function. The students will work on projects that include developing biomaterials that allow for structural and mechanical control over the tumor microenvironment or immune cells as well as understanding the relationship between aptamer structure and function for synthetic biology applications. (2) Biological Processes - A fundamental knowledge of biological processes will be critical in the future chemical industry. Students will be exposed to this area through projects on enhancing microbial robustness for biorenewable fuels and chemicals, engineering probiotic organisms and modeling photobioreactors to optimize the cultivation of algae. Students will be exposed to exciting research experiences of working in a global environment where their research will evolve from dependent to independent status and they will attain life-long learning skills that will impact their contributions to engineering, science and society. Over a three-year period, this REU Site program will engage undergraduate students in a 10-week intensive, summer research experience focused on the two research themes of Biological Materials and Biological Processes. The students will be active members of multidisciplinary groups and will interact with a faculty team that is diverse, has broad research interests and an outstanding record of mentoring undergraduate students. The REU students will participate in cohort experiences such as short courses, joint seminars/meetings and workshops on a variety of topics including research ethics, graduate school preparation and professional social media.Formalized written reports and poster presentations will be used to develop communication skills and a BioMaP alumni LinkedIn page will insure that the participants have access to a built-in professional network that can help them to decide how to apply their Chemical and Biological Engineering background in their careers. At the end of the summer program, the students will participate in a joint poster symposium together with students from other ISU undergraduate research programs.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.

爱荷华州立大学 (ISU) 本科生研究体验 (REU) 站点的更新名为“生物材料和工艺 (BioMaP)”，将为来自传统上代表性不足的人群的才华横溢且多样化的本科生群体创造新颖的研究体验，获得 STEM 研究机会。 BioMaP 的跨学科性质使学生能够发现令人兴奋的生物学/界面，并将重点关注两个研究主题。 (1) 生物材料——可以利用生物学和材料之间的界面来设计具有独特性能的坚固材料。在这种情况下，生物材料是指以特定方式与生物分子/系统相互作用以促进生物功能的合成材料。学生们将从事的项目包括开发能够对肿瘤微环境或免疫细胞进行结构和机械控制的生物材料，以及了解合成生物学应用的适体结构和功能之间的关系。 (2) 生物过程——生物过程的基础知识对于未来的化学工业至关重要。学生将通过增强生物可再生燃料和化学品的微生物稳健性、工程益生菌和模拟光生物反应器以优化藻类培养等项目接触这一领域。学生将获得在全球环境中工作的令人兴奋的研究经验，他们的研究将从依赖状态发展为独立状态，并且他们将获得终生学习技能，这将影响他们对工程、科学和社会的贡献。在三年的时间内，REU 站点项目将让本科生参与为期 10 周的强化暑期研究体验，重点关注生物材料和生物过程两个研究主题。学生将成为多学科团体的积极成员，并将与多元化、研究兴趣广泛且在指导本科生方面拥有出色记录的教师团队互动。 REU 学生将参加短期课程、联合研讨会/会议和讲习班等队列体验，主题涉及研究伦理、研究生院准备和专业社交媒体等各种主题。正式的书面报告和海报演示将用于培养沟通技巧和BioMaP 校友 LinkedIn 页面将确保参与者能够访问内置的专业网络，帮助他们决定如何在职业生涯中应用他们的化学和生物工程背景。暑期项目结束时，学生们将与其他 ISU 本科研究项目的学生一起参加联合海报研讨会。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响进行评估，认为值得支持审查标准。