REU Site: Polymer Innovation for a Sustainable Future

REU 网站：聚合物创新打造可持续未来

• 批准号: 2348780
• 负责人: SARAH MORGAN
• 金额: $ 42.61万
• 依托单位: University of Southern Mississippi
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2024-04-01 至 2027-03-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2348780&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: REU; Site; Polymer; Innovation; Sustainable

Non-technical summaryJointly funded by the Division of Materials Research and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), the University of Southern Mississippi will host a Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) site supporting ten undergraduate students from across the U.S. in a ten-week immersive research program targeting sustainable approaches in materials development to meet critical societal needs. The students in the REU Site: Polymer Innovation for a Sustainable Future work side by side with graduate students and faculty in state-of-the-art polymer science and engineering laboratories to gain skills in fundamental research while addressing challenges including reducing plastic pollution through development of recyclable and degradable plastics, creating sustainable materials from bio-polymers, and designing new materials for water purification. Students are exposed to materials manufacturing challenges and career opportunities in science and engineering through field trips to local industry and national laboratories. They build interdisciplinary communication and team-building skills through participative workshops and outreach to the community. The program broadens participation in science and engineering by recruiting students from primarily undergraduate institutions, community colleges, and minority-serving institutions, focusing on students from the freshman and sophomore years. The REU is designed to help develop the next generation of science and engineering researchers by attracting students from diverse backgrounds, developing interdisciplinary research skills, and encouraging them to pursue advanced degrees in STEM.Technical summaryThe grand challenges of the 21st century require new and sustainable approaches to materials development. Scientists must work in increasingly complex, interdisciplinary teams that address not only the technical challenges but also the environmental and global impacts of their research. The REU Site: Polymer Innovation for a Sustainable Future is focused on sustainable approaches to materials development to address critical societal needs. Undergraduate researchers are engaged in fundamental materials research efforts that span the complex, interdisciplinary facets of materials sustainability, including design of materials for recyclability and degradability, synthesis of polymers from renewable feedstocks, enhancing process efficiency, and designing polymers for renewable energy applications, while gaining the tools to assess the environmental impact of new material development. The research is organized into three themes. Theme 1, Design for Recyclability and Degradability, includes the design of bio-derived bisphenols to create thermosets with degradable moieties; utilization of keratin biomass to create uv-cured composites; and upcycling of plastic waste through reactive extrusion. Theme 2, Sustainable Polymers: (Bio) Renewable Feedstocks, includes design of lignin based high temperature polymer composites, and creation of antimicrobial chitosan nanocomposites. Theme 3, Materials for Sustainable Energy and Water Purification, includes integrated high-throughput experiments with data science techniques to design flexible electronics, and surface modification to create fouling resistant hydrophobic polymer membranes for water purification. REU students gain hands-on research experience, participate in lectures and seminars in sustainable materials, and learn to communicate the results or their research to different audiences, including middle school students, faculty from polymer science and engineering, biology, and chemistry backgrounds, and NSF/NIH program managers.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.

由材料研究部和启发竞争性研究的既定计划（EPSCOR）资助的非技术总结，将为本科生（REU）网站（REU）提供一项研究经验，该研究经验（REU）支持十个本科生的学生，以十周的全天名研究计划针对可持续性的材料开发，以满足材料的可持续发展，以满足材料的可持续发展，以满足关键的社会需求。 The students in the REU Site: Polymer Innovation for a Sustainable Future work side by side with graduate students and faculty in state-of-the-art polymer science and engineering laboratories to gain skills in fundamental research while addressing challenges including reducing plastic pollution through development of recyclable and degradable plastics, creating sustainable materials from bio-polymers, and designing new materials for water purification.通过对当地工业和国家实验室的实地考察，学生将面临材料制造挑战和职业机会。他们通过参与式讲习班建立跨学科的沟通和团队建设技能，并向社区推广。该计划通过招募主要是本科机构，社区学院和少数族裔服务机构的学生来扩大对科学和工程的参与，重点是新生和大二时期的学生。 REU旨在通过吸引来自不同背景的学生，发展跨学科的研究技能，并鼓励他们在STEM中攻读高级学位，以帮助发展下一代科学和工程研究人员。技术摘要21世纪需要新的和可持续的方法来实现材料开发。科学家必须在日益复杂的跨学科团队中工作，不仅应对技术挑战，而且应对其研究的环境和全球影响。 REU网站：可持续未来的聚合物创新集中在可持续的材料开发方法上，以满足关键的社会需求。 本科研究人员从事基本材料研究工作，这些研究工作跨越了材料可持续性的复杂，跨学科的方面，包括设计可回收性和可降解性的材料，可再生原料中的聚合物的合成，增强工艺效率的聚合物，并提高了可再生能源应用的聚合物，以评估新的材料开发的工具，以促进新的材料的影响。该研究组织为三个主题。主题1（用于可回收性和可降解性的设计）包括生物衍生的双酚设计，以创建具有可降解部分的热固体；使用角蛋白生物量来创建紫外线固定复合材料；通过反应性挤出来升级塑料废物。主题2，可持续聚合物：（ Bio）可再生原料包括基于木质素的高温聚合物复合材料的设计以及抗菌壳聚糖纳米复合材料的创建。 主题3，可持续能量和水净化的材料，包括与数据科学技术一起设计灵活电子设备的集成高通量实验，以及进行表面修饰，以创建抗抗性的疏水聚合物膜以进行水纯化。 REU学生获得动手研究经验，参加可持续材料的讲座和研讨会，并学会向包括中学生，聚合物科学和工程学的教师，生物学和化学背景以及NSF/NIH计划经理进行启发，这些奖项反映了NSF的Intortal Intortrial Worther the Intortrial of Supportial of Support， 标准。