REU+RET Site at Georgia Tech: Structure Property Correlations across Length Scales

1. REU+RET Site at Georgia Tech: Structure Property Correlations across Length Scales N.N. Thadhani, Georgia Tech., DMR 0453293 • NSF REU site run as Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship leveraged with Georgia Tech and Siemens Foundation support involved 8-weeks of immersion in research from May 28 to July 23, ’08, by 19 students selected from 132 applicants. • Class of 2008 included 6 women,3 minority, 14 non-GT students, average 3.7GPA, representing 7 majors(including Chem, Phys, BioE, GenEng, EE, ME, MSE) from 12 institutions (3 HBCU/PUI) mentored by18 faculty from8 schools/units at Ga Tech, and international research experience program mentor at Univ of Campinas, Brazil • RET site run as Georgia Internship/Fellowships for teachers involved participation of 5 teachers from Atlanta area schools (2 inner-city and 3 suburban) REU/SURF Class of 2008 Maeling Tapp, preparing polymer-surfactant complexes in Prof. Loh’s lab at Univ. of Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil. Eugenio DeHoyos and Karem Martinez presenting poster on Nano-Sized Light Emitters for Gamma Ray Detectors

2. REU+RET Site at Georgia Tech: Structure Property Correlations across Length Scales, DMR 0453293{P.I.s: N.N. Thadhani, A. Gokhale, C. Summers, V. Milam} REU/SURF participant Graham Sanborn (Spring Hill College) worked in the laboratory of Dr. Jud Ready (GTRI/MSE) developing new flexible piezoelectric materials using woven carbon fibers for energy applications. (a) single strand of CF functionalized with CNT, (b) woven CF surface where growth is inhibited on top, (c) ZnO deposition on CNT/CF surface. REU/SURF participant Jeremy Moskowitz (Cornell) worked in laboratory of Prof. CP Wong (MSE), developing new transparent, conducting adhesive materials for lead-free interconnects. The adhesive material is indicated by the arrow in the picture below. Design of piezoelectric nanogenerator fabric Bulk resistivity of this material depends greatly on temperature used for processing polymer.

3. REU+RET Site at Georgia Tech: Structure Property Correlations across Length Scales, DMR 0453293{P.I.s: N.N. Thadhani, A. Gokhale, C. Summers, V. Milam} Indention tests of chocolate by RET/GIFT teacher Marie Johnson (Chamblee High School, Chamblee, GA) with faculty mentor Valeria Milam. To mimic structural aspects of materials, Marie used pure chocolate, chocolate with porous fillers, and a chocolate-nut “composites.” To vary the ductility, she compared indentions on chocolate at two temperatures. She will use this research experience to develop a laboratory module involving characterization of chocolate in high school physics class. Computer simulations to elucidate adhesion mechanisms in materials (carbon nanotubes) mimicking Gecko’s sticky feet by RET/GIFT teacher Ursula Gordon (North Clayton High School, Atlanta, GA) with faculty mentor Seung Soon Jang. She will use her research experience to develop a module for her high school math class. Simulations indicate decrease in binding energy with increase in C-nanotube length Materials for indention tests ranged from pure chocolate (left), chocolate with “voids” (middle), chocolate-composite  (right) Materials after indention tests at two temperatures to mimic less ductile (room temperature) to more ductile (warmed) chocolate