Research Experiences for Undergraduates in Renewable Energy
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Research Experiences for Undergraduates in Renewable Energy Chuck Stone Department of Physics, 1523 Illinois Street, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO 80401 USA ABSTRACT During summers 2009 and 2010, the Renewable Energy Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (REMRSEC) at the Colorado School of Mines (CSM) successfully piloted a 10-week Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program that addressed fundamental materials issues related to the science and technology of renewable energy. In January 2011, the National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded CSM a three-year grant to establish an REU Site that will strengthen our recruiting of women, underrepresented minorities, and persons with disabilities in research. This paper describes the features of these pilot programs and outlines the nature of our 2011 REU. INTRODUCTION In September 2008, NSF awarded CSM a six-year grant [1] to establish REMRSEC [2]. REMRSEC consists of an interdisciplinary team of CSM faculty from the Departments of Chemical Engineering, Chemistry and Geochemistry, Liberal Arts and International Studies, Mathematical and Computer Sciences, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, and Physics, in addition to faculty from Academic Computing and Networking; Center for Assessment of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics; Center for Engineering Education; and the Division of Engineering. REMRSEC faculty collaborate closely with scientific staff at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) [3]. Located only two miles from CSM, NREL is the nation’s primary laboratory for renewable energy and energy efficiency research and development. REMRSEC faculty partner with scientists in the Center for Revolutionary Solar Photoconversion (CRSP) [4], a research center of the Colorado Renewable Energy Collaboratory [5], that involves NREL and Colorado universities in an industrial consortium with approximately 15 companies with business interests in alternative energy technology. Through these associations, REMRSEC’s two primary research missions are: i) to harness unique properties of nanostructured materials to significantly enhance the performance of nextgeneration photovoltaic devices, and ii) to emphasize the intelligent microstructural design of composite membranes with improved stability, operational range, impurity tolerance, transport efficiency, and selectivity. Moreover, seed grants promote short-term explorations in emerging areas of renewable energy materials to encourage excellent high-risk, high-reward projects. DISCUSSION The REMRSEC REU invites exceptional undergraduate mathematics, science, and engineering students to participate in a 10-week summer research program addressing fundamental materials issues related to the science and technology of renewable energy. These highly interdisciplinary studies focus on multiple areas that are open to all materials science, engineering, physics, chemistry, mathematics, and computer science majors. Admitting students into the program and matching them to meaningful projects
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