In the summer of 2022, the 2DCC hosted 10 undergraduate students through the Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Site titled “REU: Scalable Nanomanufacturing of Complex Materials,” all of which were onsite. The REU site is jointly organized by 2DCC and the Penn State Nanofabrication facility.
The students included 4 women and 5 identifying as being members of underrepresented groups in STEM. The 2DCC user program provided a fruitful resource for REU recruitment. Out of the 10 undergrads, 3 were affiliated with external user projects and 2 were from Florida International University (FIU) as part of the FIU-2DCC PREM. Students carried out lab work, participated in professional development sessions and an industry visit and, at the end of the summer, presented posters on their work at a campus-wide undergraduate research symposium. Since its initial start in 2019, the 2DCC-Nanofab REU Site has hosted a total of 38 undergrads 74% of which were from groups traditionally underrepresented in STEM and 32% who were recruited from 2DCC external user research groups.
What Has Been Achieved: 2DCC hosted 10 undergraduate students through the REU: Scalable Nanomanufacturing of Complex Materials” site during summer 2022.
Importance of the Achievement: The REU program encourages undergraduates to pursue advanced degrees in the physical sciences and engineering by providing them with exposure to cutting-edge research and professional development opportunities.
Unique Feature(s) of the MIP that Enabled this Achievement: The state-of-the-art facilities available in the 2DCC-MIP combined with staff expertise provided a supportive laboratory research environment for the REU students.
Acknowledgements: Financial support for the REU program is provided by NSF EEC-1852251