1. REU Site for Interdisciplinary Materials Research Boyd M. Goodson, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, DMR 1157058 The REU Site at Southern Illinois University Carbondale supports an average of 14 undergraduates per year (including 2 from institutional match) for a 10 week period each summer; students are involved in interdisciplinary projects in the broadly defined area of materials research. The faculty mentors involved in this project have expertise in Chemistry, Physics and Engineering; inclusion of mentors from various disciplines encourages the REU students to think about their respective projects in broad terms (including application to new technologies) and provides them with the opportunity to present their results to a diverse audience. This summer, REU student research projects encompassed a variety of cutting-edge research topics, including: Nano-Embedded Thermoelectric Cooling and Mapping Thermal Distribution in Integrated Circuits, Isolation of Tri-Substituted Diphenylmethylsilylamines, Research on Materials for Improved Energy Conservation in Buildings, Producing Microbial Lipids Using Hydrolysates of Corn Fiber and Sweet Sorghum Bagasse through Yeast Fermentation, Investigating Enzyme-Substrate Interactions on a Model Bilayer, Bipartite Correlations Resulting from Classical Communication (with relevance to quantum communication and information processing), Sol-Gel Derived Organic-Inorganic Thin Films for Controlled Release Applications, Effects of Electrochemical Seed-Layer Deposition Parameters on Hydrothermally Grown ZnO Nanowires, Controlling Morphology in Conducting Effective Structures of Conjugated Polymers, Super- resolution via Microlens-Augmented Optical Microscopy, Synthesis & Characterization of Atomically Thin 2-D WS 2 Nanosheets by Simple Liquid Phase Exfoliation, Electronic Band Engineering in Graphene via Boron Nitride Doping-A First Principles Approach, Functionalization of Carbon Nanotubes for Use as Catalysts in the Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis, and Studies of Transient Clustering and pH Sensitivity in Dendron-Functionalized SPIONs. Some of the research outcomes of the REU students are presented in the figures at the right: Fig 1. Synthesis and optical characterization of micro-lense arrays. Fig 2. Band structure calculation of graphene doped with Boron Nitride, using a First Principles Approach. Fig 3. Characterization of a variety of carbon nanotubes for CO conversion in Fisher Tropsch reactions. Fig4. Synthesis & UV-Vis of a few layer WS 2 sheet. Fig 5. Effect of electrodeposition voltage on hydrothermally grown ZnO nanaowires

2. Participants are recruited nationally, with a focus on 4 & 2-year colleges. ~58% have been from our targeted institutions in the region (IL, IN, MO, KY, WI, IA, & TN), select HBCUs, high minority-enrollment institutions, and junior colleges; particular emphasis is placed on students from groups underrepresented in STEM (Table 1), as well as those from socio-economically disadvantaged regions (including the Mississippi Delta region). In addition to professional and social activities, all students performed mentored research for 9 or 10 weeks (depending on year), gave poster presentations of their work, and earned certificates of completion at our REU Banquet (Figs. 2 & 3). ~72% are in a STEM career track (Fig. 4), including 7 in STEM jobs (including those finished grad school), 40 in STEM graduate programs, and 5 still in UG programs but on a STEM track. Fig. 4 Fig. 2 (a, b, c). Photos from the 2012 SIUC summer undergraduate research symposium, where participants in the REU Site (as well as other researchers, including high school researchers from the ACS SEED program) presented their work to over 100 University scientists and engineers; Fig. 3 shows Miguel Meza receiving his REU certificate at the Banquet. Fig. 2 (a) Fig. 3 (b) (c) Fig. 1. 2013 SIUC REU participants: Left to Right: Boyd Goodson (PI), Megan Czerniejewski (grad assistant), Katherine Maxwell, Josh Rathod, James Gowen, Ashley Wardlow, Morgan Dutrow, Erika Putz, Cathleen Fry, Antoinee Watson-Taylor, Chance Baker, Doug Coons (administrative assistant), Jake Spies, Logan Moore, Nicolas Shaffer, Evan Christianson, Carrie Frizzell. Not pictured: Saikat Talapatra (Co-PI); Eboni Perkins (grad assistant), Fig. 1. REU Site for Interdisciplinary Materials Research Boyd M. Goodson, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, DMR 1157058