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NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Program
in "Engineering Tomorrow""
Project Director: Dr. Carlo Montemagno, Dean College of Engineering
Co-Project Director: Dr. Anant R. Kukreti, Associate Dean for Engineering Education Research and Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
NSF Grant No.: DUE 0756921
2009 REU Information Flyer (PDF) Apply for REU (PDF) Apply for REU (WORD)
An Overview on Selection of Research Projects
As part of its strategic plan, in 2006 the College of Engineering at University of Cincinnati decided to focus on four research thrust areas: (1) Sustainable Urban Engineering (SUE), (2) Nano-Scale Science and Technology (NSST), (3) Emerging Energy Systems (EES), and (4) Emerging Intelligent Autonomous Systems (EIAS). Each is an interdisciplinary research and education effort led by the College of Engineering which includes participation from the Colleges of Arts and Sciences (A&S), Design Architecture Art and Planning (DAAP), Education Criminal Justice and Human Services (CECH), and Medicine (CoM) as well as industrial and international collaborations. Each year REU projects will be selected in these research thrust areas which are part of ongoing funded research grants, having well-defined goal(s) and objective(s) to be completed by the REU teams during the 8 summer weeks. Below general research project ideas for the research thrust areas are presented.
Sustainable Urban Engineering (SUE) [Area Coordinator: Dr. Makram T. Suidan, Civil and Environmental Engineering]. SUE is a new research thrust area housed in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE). An undergraduate minor in SUE has been implemented while an active research program is underway under the Center for SUE. The modern urban environment is shaped by public policy that regulates spending on critical infrastructure systems. These affect population mobility, economic choice, and environmental quality-in short, the quality of life for any urban dweller. While some interactions between infrastructure policy and the urban environment are obvious-for example drinking water and transportation systems-the long-term effects of policy decisions regulating critical infrastructure are nonlinear and difficult to understand without a suitable theory/framework for analysis. SUE seeks to understand how urban infrastructure and environmental policies affect the long-term health and wealth of cities, and to apply this understanding to the development of theoretical and analytical frameworks for practical aims. Such theoretical and analytical frameworks do not exist, and will only be discovered and tested through sustained multi-disciplinary research collaborations fostered by administrative support at all levels. This REU opportunity will allow students to critically examine many urban engineering problems. Some of these include the following: Reliability of infrastructure during natural disasters is imperative, because consequences of failure are staggering. Globally, more than one billion people do not have access to safe drinking water and in the US the primary problem relates to the availability of high water quality. Understanding the quality of the air we breathe is essential. With increasingly stringent emission standards, it is anticipated that Cincinnati will be in violation of these standards. Historically, Cincinnati has been labeled "Sinus Valley" due to a combination of its location, industries, and natural allergens. In the area of transportation, high performance computers solve complex analytical models, providing accurate simulations of traffic flow.
Nano-Scale Science and Technology (NCCT) [Area Coordinators: Dr. Ian Papautsky, Electrical Engineering and Dr. Donglu Shi, Chemical and Materials Engineering]. Nano structures and devices are becoming important in providing new applications for medical, biotechnical, photonic, and other industries. Application of nanotechnology is important for two reasons: (1) it permits reduction in cost and enhancement of existing technologies, and (2) enables development of new sensors through miniaturization. Low-cost devices for medical diagnostics can be used at the point-of-care for disadvantaged populations. This could make affordable diagnostics more widely available, particularly in remote or rural communities and small hospitals that lack access to these technologies. New sensing mechanisms and nano-scale sensors permit sensing in situ or in vivo, and enhance our abilities to study complex phenomena. The objective of the projects proposed for the REU program is to introduce undergraduates to this new rapidly emerging area and to offer them opportunities to conduct research using updated facilities. Currently more than 50 researchers from 20 research groups rely on the UC Institute for NSTC Clean Room Complex and Characterization Center as experimental resource for the design and fabrication of structures at the nanoscale. They come from the Colleges of Engineering, Arts and Sciences, Medicine, and local industries such as Cincinnati Electronics, a preeminent manufacturer of infrared imaging technologies.
Emerging Energy Systems (EES) [Area Coordinators: Dr. Raj M. Manglik, Mechanical Engineering and Dr. Raj N. Singh, Chemical and Materials Engineering]. Nobel laureate Richard Smalley predicted that energy shortages will become a priority issue in the 21st century and many governments, academic institutions, and corporate businesses have dedicated resources and efforts related to power generation that are friendly to the environment. The current energy "crisis" clearly highlights the need for alternative sources of energy, but also different methods of production and efficiency. Alternative sources of energy come from water, sun, plants, and other biological systems, and unique ways of converting these into electricity via fuel cells, electrolysis, and solar power conversions. Two primary thrust areas, (1) Fuel Cells and (2) Hydrogen Production and Storage, among others, are actively pursued by various faculty members within College of Engineering, which are considered for the engagement of undergraduate science and engineering students in this REU program.
Emerging Intelligent Autonomous Systems (EIAS). The EIAS thrust area is a multi-department, interdisciplinary initiative focused on acquiring the intelligence and skills needed to develop and deploy self-prognosticating, self-predicting, and self-healing tools for enabling robust, intelligent, and autonomous systems for improved survivability & performance. The vision for the EIAS is to enable products and systems to achieve and sustain near-zero breakdown performance, and ultimately transform the traditional maintenance practices from "fail and fix " to "predict and prevent" methodology. The research in EIAS is focused on frontier technologies in embedded and remote monitoring, prognostics technologies, and intelligent decision support tools and has coined the trademarked Watchdog AgentŪ prognostics tools and Device-to-Business (D2B) infotronics platform for e-maintenance systems. REU projects envisioned in this area in the future include bio-inspired morphing for unmanned air vehicles, training simulator for real-time management of aerial resources for control of forest fires, artificial neural network modeling for airfoil design and performance prediction, and active control of tensegrity structures.