REU Projects | Chemistry and Biochemistry | SIU

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REU Projects

Chemical and Biomolecular Sciences:

Biological Sciences:

Physics:

"The REU student will participate in the growth and characterization of magnetic thin-film heterostructures and spintronic memory devices. In this interdisciplinary project, the student will learn how materials research can address current industry and technology demands and how a material property translates into a working, room-temperature device. At the fundamental level, the student will understand how size, structure, and topology can influence the physical properties of electronic and magnetic materials. The student can experience several experimental methods ranging from thin-film growth to structural analysis to physical property and device measurements (magnetoresistance, Hall effects, magneto-optics). The student may also participate in theoretical projects dealing with electronic structure and topological properties of magnetic materials."

Engineering:

  • Using supercomputers to better design nanoscale devices; TCAD modeling of a low-power (green) transistor; Why do LEDs degrade over time? (Dr. Shaikh S. Ahmed)
  • Independently tuning viscoelasticity of polyacrylamide hydrogels for cellular mechanotransduction studies. (Dr. Farhan Chowdhury). 

"Polyacrylamide hydrogels have been widely used in mechanosensing studies. The rheological investigations of crosslinked polyacrylamide hydrogels exhibited linear elastic properties. However, the cellular responses elicited on elastic substrates, which do not mimic the viscoelastic living tissues, are not physiologically relevant. We recently demonstrated the feasibility of creating viscoelastic polyacrylamide hydrogels by additive manufacturing techniques (Protick, F. et al., ACS Omega, 2022). At present, we are focused on tuning the dissipative component (G'') of the hydrogels independently and determining cellular mechanotransduction on these hydrogel substrates"