Students Get Experience in Cutting Edge Field of Clean Energy
What are the hottest career fields in today’s job market? Clean energy tops the list and many undergraduate students with backgrounds in science are eager to explore the possibilities. This summer, sixteen students from across the country are doing just that as a part of the Collaborative Undergraduate Research in Energy (CURE) Program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, a research experience in the science behind renewable energy. Students get a chance to focus in on one of three areas: making biofuels, formulating new membranes for fuel cells or developing new materials for harnessing solar energy.
CURE students are drawn to the idea of getting direct research experience in a cutting edge field. “Renewable energy is going to become increasingly important in the years to come when the world’s oil resources dwindle. It is also important that we create more efficient and environmentally friendly means for energy consumption. Being part of a process that could help solve the world’s energy crisis would be a tremendous and satisfying experience”, said James Zokoe, Jr., a CURE student from Adrian College in Michigan.
 |
| Manuel Segarra, a CURE student from the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez, working in the lab. |
Throughout the comprehensive ten- week program, CURE students spend most of their days in UMass labs, with additional meetings for seminars and training to strengthen their academic work and develop their skills and knowledge base. These include lab safety, conducting a literature search, scientific and research ethics, preparing for graduate school, as well as topic-focused information on the science of fuel cells, solar cells, biofuels and green building design.
Students complete the program by presenting a research poster detailing their work and a draft of a research article for potential submission to a scientific journal. They also develop new hands-on public outreach activities that excite, engage and teach young people and the general public about science and renewable energy.
“This program is a good way to help you explore”, according to Theresa Akede, a CURE student from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania. “You get to interact with those already in the field so you can make a better decision about your future. If you want to go to graduate school, you can get experience early and you can see exactly what kind of work is being done.”
An innovative feature of the program is its team-based orientation and collaborative approach. Massachusetts Center for Renewable Energy Science and Technology (MassCREST), which coordinates the CURE program, is itself an example of interdisciplinary research. The Center brings together complementary expertise from at least five different departments within UMass Amherst. With the support of a faculty member and a near-peer mentor, CURE students learn how to develop and participate in research based on different scientific approaches and to work in partnership toward a common end.
"I love the idea of having two students with two projects collaborating”, said Frances Rodriguez, a CURE student from the University of Puerto Rico at Cayey. “Science, itself, has become interdisciplinary and working together as one will lead to new discoveries."
This new generation of scientists will indeed make discoveries that powerfully impact our world. The CURE program gives students the chance to explore and develop as researchers as well as preparing them to take a leadership role in the future. American undergraduates with a drive to excel and with backgrounds in chemistry, physics, materials science or chemical engineering are encouraged to apply to the program for 2010. A stipend, dormitory housing and limited reimbursement for travel costs are provided. For more information about the CURE program visit http://www.chem.umass.edu/masscrest/reu/ or contact Karen Hakala at 413-545-8401 or email to hakala@research.umass.edu.
Fueling the Future Center for Chemical Innovation
 |
Congressman Olver,
Dr. Katharine Covert (NSF), Professor S. Thayumanavan |
Under the Mass CREST umbrella, the Chemistry Department at UMass Amherst recently launched the Center for Fueling the Future, a National Science Foundation Chemical Bonding Center focused on cutting-edge hydrogen fuel cell science. The three-year, $1.5 million grant funds the Center's quest to better understand proton transfer, a critical component of fuel cells.
The Fueling the Future Center for Chemical Innovation is one of seven NSF Chemical Bonding Centers in the nation and one of only two that focus on clean, renewable energy research. Such centers are designed to provide scientists opportunities to address "big questions" in basic chemical research that have potentially high scientific and societal impact.
This first phase of research serves as a springboard to a $15 million, 5-year second phase. ...more
|
