Students Participate in Prestigious NSF Polymer Research Internship

Akron, Ohio, Aug. 6, 2004 — Forget the beach — conducting research in polymers is how four University of Akron McNair Scholars spent most of their summer vacations. The students participated in the prestigious National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program.

The REU program offers participants specific research opportunities at various university host sites. Dr. Coleen Pugh, associate professor of polymer science, secured a NSF grant to host an REU Site for polymer research at UA.

Participating in the 12-week program were Kendra Hill of Bedford Heights and a 2002 graduate of Bedford High School; Cortney Hoch of Youngstown and a 2002 graduate of Hubbard High School; Tremeshia Waters of Heidelberg, Miss., and a 2002 graduate of Heidelberg High School and Clifton Watkins of McComb, Miss., and a 2000 graduate of South Pike High School.

In addition to conducting research, the interns took part in career development activities and progress discussion groups, toured the polymer research centers at Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. and Bridgestone Firestone Inc. in Akron, and Bayer Polymers, a unit of Bayer Inc. in Pittsburgh, and received a $6,000 stipend. The internship concluded with the students presenting their research results at the Northeast Ohio Undergraduate Research in Polymer Science and Engineering Symposium on the UA campus.

Dr. Pugh notes that the interns have had only a relatively short time to work on their research projects, but they have developed several skills that most undergraduates are never exposed to.

“As young scientists, these scholars are exploring important areas of future research,” says Pugh. “For example, Cortney Hoch became skilled at blowing glass in order to create her polymerization apparatuses for anionic polymerizations. Clifton Watkins learned about electrospinning, which was used to create the carbon fibers he's investigating as electrodes in fuel cells. Kendra Hill is now knowledgeable in using an atomic force microscope, which is the instrument that will use the scanning probe tips she is developing. And Tremeshia Waters has learned how to program in Fortran, and to use that computer program to investigate polymer properties, such as the characteristic ratio, which is a measure of their stiffness.”

The four REU interns were recruited from The University of Akron's McNair Scholars Program designed to offer students from underrepresented groups, as well as first-generation college students, enriching scholastic experiences that prepare eligible scholars for doctoral education. Twenty-seven students from The University of Akron, Youngstown State University, Walsh College, Rust College and Mississippi Valley State University participated in the five-week program.

“The collaboration between the McNair Scholars Program and Dr. Pugh afforded our students a great enrichment opportunity,” says Billi Copeland, assistant director of the McNair Scholars Program. “In these programs, undergraduate students are performing graduate level research that has the potential to impact society positively. They are bright and motivated. This is evidence that federally funded TRIO programs — of which McNair is a part — offer significant opportunities for our students and do make a difference.”

The Ronald E. McNair Post Baccalaureate Achievement Program is a Federal TRIO Program funded by the U.S. Department of Education at 179 institutions across the United States and Puerto Rico. The University of Akron first offered the program in 1999 and was recently renewed for fiscal years 2003-07.

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