CRISP REU Program

The CRISP Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) is supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) as a Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) program. The CRISP REU fellowship program provides students with the opportunity to conduct team-based interdisciplinary materials research through both academic year and summer research opportunities for undergraduate students - academic year REUs are available for students at Yale and SCSU. During the course of this eight-week summer research program, REU Fellows conduct research under the advisement of a university faculty mentor and postdoctoral fellows and graduate students within the research group. The REU experience is based on a very successful collaborative team-based model developed as one of CRISP's signature programs (MIMER). Specifically, a team of researchers with various academic backgrounds are brought together to research a topic of common interest. These teams make use of shared research/teaching facilities at both Yale and SCSU. These collaborative research groups encourage synergy and foster the formation of mentoring relationships among team members who are recruited broadly with an emphasis on underrepresented populations.

Eligibility - the CRISP REU program is open to highly motivated undergraduate students who have completed their junior year, although consideration is given to underclassmen demonstrating strong potential. Minorities, women and persons with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply. US citizenship [or permanent residency] is required.

REU Fellow Selection - the selection of REU participants is based on a personal statement, academic transcript, resume and two letters of recommendation. Selection is based on the candidate’s motivation, promise for success, and the potential for CRISP to positively impact the student’s abilities and interest in obtaining a graduate degree in the sciences; we especially target student’s from smaller undergraduate institutions where state-of-the art research is not readily accessible.

CRISP Research Experiences for Undergraduates program is supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under Grant No. DMR-052049.

Find us on Facebook

REU 2013

The goal of the CRISP REU program is to offer high-quality, state-of-the-art research experiences, enrichment activities and professional development events to undergraduates. Current research topics range from thin film growth and characterization to friction and manipulation at the atomic level with projects involving computation, simulation, fabrication, characterization and image processing. Materials systems included semiconductors, dielectrics, optical materials and bio-materials.

Program Dates June 3 - July 29, 2013

Application Candidates must apply directly to the Yale SURF program through the Leadership Alliance Summer Research-Early Identification Program starting November 01, 2012. Students must also complete the supplementary application for CRISP to indicate interest. The entire application package, including two letters of recommendation and official transcript(s), must be received by February 01, 2013.

Residential REU program Each REU participant will receive a stipend of $3000 and $1000 for food. This is a residential program and university housing will be provided on the Yale campus.

Non-Residential REU program Participants live within commuting distance from Yale University and will not receive housing for the duration of the program. Each REU participant will receive a stipend of $3000 and $1000 for travel/parking. These students attend all of the program events, but are responsible for transportation to and from campus.

REU 2012

The 2012 REU program was held for eight weeks from June 04 - July 30. CRISP REU fellows participated in the Yale SURF program (through the Leadership Alliance). CRISP REU fellows were immersed in the materials research projects of CRISP working under the advisement of CRISP faculty members and alongside graduate students and post-docs within the research group. Participants in the REU 2012 program:

• Ivan Bekreyev (Univ of Florida, Physics and Electrical Eng) Structure and ordering of nickelate superlattices with Dr. Charles Ahn
• Mark Davis, (SUNY Lehman, Physics and Math) Imaging monolayer ZrO₂ on a Si substrate with Fred Walker
• Ben Pollak (Washington State Univ in St. Louis, Physics and Math) Nonpolymorphic phase transitions in bulk metallic glasses with Dr. Corey O'Hern
• Chris Duncan-Lewis (Univ of Pennsylvania) Cell viability and morphology on nanopatterned bulk metallic glass surfaces with Dr. Themis Kyriakides
• Brittany Rauzzan, (Allegheny College, Chemistry) Soft nanoimprint lithography using bulk metallic glass for fabrication of polymer-based solar cells with enhanced performance with Dr. Chinedum Osuji
• Candy Reid (Univ Central Florida, Engineering) Design and fabrication of a high throughput combinatorial electrochemical testing system with Dr. Andre Taylor
• Madison Calhoun (Carnegie Melon Univ, Chemical Eng) Polyelectrolyte adsorption onto carbon nanotube surfaces under applied potential with Dr. Paul Van Tassel

We also had a second REU cohort at SCSU comprised of four SCSU students majoring in the Physics program: Mike Conroy, Melissa Cruz, Jennifer DePalma, and Carol Jenkins.

REU 2011

The 2011 REU program was held for eight weeks from June 06 - Aug 01. CRISP REU fellows participated in the Yale [http://www.yale.edu/graduateschool/diversity/forms/surf.pdf SURF program. CRISP REU fellows were immersed in the materials research projects of CRISP working under the advisement of CRISP faculty members and alongside graduate students and post-docs within the research group. Participants in the REU 2011 program:

• Doug Ball, Utah State University [Physics]
• Victoria Rosborough, Mary Baldwin College [Physics]
• Guy Geyer, Wesleyan University [Physics]
• Heather Hawkes, Harvard University [Mechanical and Materials Science & Engineering]
• Jose Sanchez, University of Puerto Rico [Theoretical Physics]
• Korine Duval, University of Maryland, Baltimore County [Mechanical Engineering]
• Olivia Skeen, Angelo State University [Applied Physics]

Two students from SCSU participated as well. Barbara was a Super-REU, having participated in the 2010 program. Barbara received funding from the NASA-Connecticut Space Grant Consortium.

• Barbara Benardo and Carol Jenkins, Southern Connecticut State University [Physics]

Summer Research Symposium

We ended the program with our second annual CRISP Summer Research Symposium to showcase our REU students' work. This year, we held a joint-symposium between CRISP and Yale's Raymond and Beverly Sackler Institute. Below is a list of the REU student, faculty and post-doc mentors and research project title. Photos from this event are online at Picasa.

• Doug Ball, Fred Walker, Joe Ngai – Growth characterization of BaTiO₃ oxide-semiconductor heterojunctions
• Victoria Rosborough, Eric Altman, Boris Lukanov – Photoredox in ferroelectric BaTiO₃ and BaTiO₃/Ge heterostructures
• Guy Geyer, Hong Tang – Fiber taper probe for probing photonic crystal microcavities
• Heather Hawkes, Charles Ahn, Matthew Marshall – The piezoelectric properties of ZnO thin films
• Jose Sanchez, Fred Walker, Divine Kumah – Characterization of the GaN-MgO transistor interface
• Korine Duval, Chinedum Osuji – Fabrication of polyelectrolyte complex microcapsules via electrospray
• Olivia Skeen, Jan Schroers – Fabrication of artificial microstructures using bulk metallic glass
• Barbara Benardo and Carol Jenkins, Christine Broadbridge, Todd Schwendemann – Impact of Processing Techniques on Colloidal Silver Nanoprisms

Professional Development

REU fellows attended weekly workshops hosted by the Yale SURF program:

• June 08 - Proposing Research
• June 15 - Practice GRE Exam
• June 22 - GRE Results & Strategies
• June 29 - Writing an Abstract
• July 6 - Oral Presentation Practice I
• July 13 - Oral Presentation Practice II
• July 20 - Graduate School Applications & Funding

Leadership Alliance National Symposium

REU fellows presented their work at the 2011 Leadership Alliance National Symposium, held on July 29-31 in Greenwich, CT.

From right to left: Guy Geyer, Korine Duval, Jose Sanchez, Olivia Skeen, Victoria Rosbourough;
Not pictured: Doug Ball, Heather Hawkes

REU 2010

The 2010 REU program was held for eight weeks from June 07 - July 30. During the program, REU fellows were immersed in the materials research projects of CRISP working under the advisement of CRISP faculty members and alongside graduate students and post-docs within the research group. Participants in the REU 2010 program: Katelyn Grey, Southern Connecticut State University [Chemistry] Barbara Benardo, Rohan Harrison and Victor Gonzalez, Southern Connecticut State University [Physics] Divya Krishna, Carnegie Mellon University [Materials Science and Biomedical Engineering] Michael Zilm, University of Connecticut [Materials Science & Engineering] Daniel Brooks, Cornell University [Engineering Physics] Summer Research Symposium We ended the program with the first annual CRISP Summer Research Symposium to showcase our REU students' work. Below is a list of the REU student, faculty mentor(s) and research project title. Photos from this event are online at Picasa. Barbara Benardo, Charles Ahn – Magnetic field control of ferroelectric polarization Daniel Brooks, Hui Cao – Computing photonic density of states Katelyn Grey, Todd Schwendemann, Eric Altman – Friction of Au nanoparticles on HOPG Divya Krishna, Mark Horowitz – Analyzing osteoblast differentiation in Ebf1-deficient mice Michael Zilm, Eric Dufresne, Lynne Regan – Phase separation of β-keratin for structural color Rohan Harrison, Fred Walker, Christine Broadbridge – TEM study of ferroelectric field effect transistors Victor Gonzalez, Christine Broadbridge – Image processing of magnesia/yttria nanocomposite to yield computer aided measurements Professional Development Seminar Series Over the course of the program, CRISP members volunteered to give talks to the students about their research and the research of the Center. June 22 - Dr. Udo Schwarz "Atomic Force Microscopy: Introduction and Activities at Yale" June 29 - Jason Hoffman [Department of Applied Physics] - "Magnetoelectric Coupling in Composite Multiferroics" July 06 - Matt Herdiech [Department of Chemistry] - "Modification of Ferroelectric Surfaces for Catalysis" July 13 - Xiao Pan [Department of Applied Physics] - "Ferroelectric-FET for DRAM application" Graduate School Forum Several post-docs and graduate students spent time with the REU group to engage in a Q&A session about graduate school.

REU 2009

The 2009 REU program was held for eight weeks from June 01 - July 28. During the program, REU fellows were immersed in the materials research projects of CRISP working under the advisement of CRISP faculty members and alongside graduate students and post-docs within the research group. Participants in the REU 2009 program: REU 2009 participants Keldrick Taylor, Alabama A&M [Electrical Engineering] SURF program Max Liu, Duke University [Chemistry] SURF program Carlos Solano, University of Central Florida [Physics] SURF program Bethany Niedzielski, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute [Physics] Victor Gonzalez, Daniel Harpin, Rohan Harrison, Southern CT State University [Physics] Divya Krishnamoorthy, Carnegie Mellon [Materials Science & Engineering] NASA program Ellen Scanley, Southern CT State University [Physics] NASA program Monica Sawicki, Southern CT State University [Biochemistry] Torrey Levin-Russell, Southern CT State University Below is a list of the REU student, faculty mentor(s) and research project title. Keldrick Taylor, Daniel Harpin, Fred Walker – X-ray fluorescence measurements of thin film spectroscopy Max Liu, Eric Dufresne, Lynne Regan, Richard Prum – Isolation and characterization of beta keratins in avian feathers Carlos Solano, Charles Ahn – AFM study of colossal magnetoresistive oxide film morphology Bethany Niedzielski, Christine Broadbridge, Maria Gherasimova – Analyzing the surface texture of InGaAs using AFM Torrey Levin-Russell, Sohrab Ismail-Beigi – Effective mass modeling of the LAO/STO interface Victor Gonzalez, James Dolan (SCSU Physics) – Photoluminescence studies of eagle feathers Rohan Harrison, Monica Sawicki, Christine Broadbridge – Thin film growth, TEM characterization and computational modeling Divya Krishnamoorthy, John DaPonte (SCSU Computer Science) – Title