The University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez (UPRM) PREM project in association with the Department of Engineering Science and Materials designed and proposed the establishment of an undergraduate Certificate in Materials Science & Engineering (CMSE). The curricular sequence has been approved by UPRM administration to start running in August 2008. The purpose of the CMSE is to provide the students with a solid background and basic skills to identify, rationalize and face common problems associated to materials processing and the macro, micro and nanoscale. This complementary knowledge will situate our students in an advantageous position in the labor force market related to processing and technological applications of functional materials. Also, the CMSE can be considered as a platform to motivate the students to pursue a more advanced degree in Materials Science and Engineering in our Campus.

The CMSE includes courses, a seminar and a hands-on research experience. The courses will cover selected topics on the characterization and processing of functional materials. The Seminar will be used to expose our students to actual situations of critical scientific and technological interest. Additional elective courses from other departments will also be associated to this new curricular sequence. Finally, the participant students will also get hands-on expertise on the processing and characterization of materials being part of active UPRM research groups in structural materials, nano-structured materials, multifunctional materials, among others.

To sustain this effort and an upcoming Master of Science program on Materials Science & Engineering (another UPRM PREM’s objective), in the last two years the UPRM College of Engineering has hired six professors with a wide range of expertise.

Lilia Olaya, a Mechanical Engineering MS student received the First Prize in the graduate category of the Light Metals Division of TMS. Lilia is the very first UPRM graduate student to receive this award in this international competition. The high temperature Ultima III x-ray diffractometer that permitted this research was acquired with NSF MRI award CBET 0619349 led by participating PREM faculty.

Carla Príncipe (Civil Engineering, second from the left), Maxuel Cruz (Mechanical Engineering, first from the left) and Abraham Rodríguez (Chemical Engineering, third from the left) received the First Prize in the undergraduate category of the Structural Materials Division of TMS. The poster was titled “Characterization of Al-Cu Alloys Reinforced with Dodecaborides.” PREM graduate student Lilia Olaya also assisted in this project.

Alexandra Cintrón (Industrial Engineering, second from the left), Lizmar Príncipe and José González (Mechanical Engineering, first and third from the left, respectively) received the First Prize in the undergraduate category of the Extraction and Processing Division of TMS. Their poster was titled: “Design of Experiment: Effect of Boron in Al-Si Composites under Centrifugal and Gravity Casting Conditions.”

The UPRM delegation to TMS was the largest one (16 students) representing all US Material Advantage Chapters. The group participated in the “Hands On New Orleans Service Project” as volunteers in the Mary D. Coghill Elementary School, located in the city’s 9th Ward. They constructed picnic tables and trash can holders, installed playground equipment and painted ground murals including sidewalk games.

In addition to PREM, kind donations by BP, Raytheon, Johnson & Johnson and Gerber to the UPRM Material Advantage student chapter made possible this significant student delegation from Mayagüez.

JSU-UCSB PREM summer school participants from Jackson, MS local high school published their research finding at IEEE Sensor Journal. The IEEE Sensors Journal is a peer-reviewed journal devoted to sensors and sensing phenomena. It is published by the IEEE Sensors Council, which consists of 23 IEEE Technical Societies with a combined membership of over 260,000. In this paper we have reported development and evaluation of a miniaturized, inexpensive and battery operated ultra-sensitive nanomaterial based fluorescence resonance energy transfer (NSET) probe (as shown in Figure 1) for screening microbial pathogens DNA and chemical toxins at high sensitivity and selectivity. Though the publication demonstrated only for water sample, this team believed that their probe provides a useful starting point for the development of practical nanosensor for screening of toxin from wide range of biological, toxicological and environmental samples that require an assay for biological and chemical toxin detection.

Figure 1: Photograph of the minimized NSET probe box, connected with labtop computer for data acquisition.

Photograph of four PREM Summer School K12 Participants (top two rows), graduate student and mentor (bottom rows) - coming soon.

Contamination of the environment with mercury has been an important concern throughout the world for decades. Human exposure to high Hg levels can harm the brain, heart, kidneys, lungs, and immune system of people of all ages. Driven by the need to detect trace amount of mercury from environmental samples, here we present miniaturized, inexpensive and battery operated ultra-sensitive gold nanoparticle based nanomaterial surface energy transfer (NSET) probe for screening mercury levels in contaminated soil, water and fish which has excellent sensitivity (2 ppt) and selectivity for Hg(II) over competing analytes, with the largest fluorescence enhancement to date for sensing Hg(II) in environmental samples (1100-fold). The sensitivity of our probe to detect mercury level in soil, water and fish is about 2-3 orders of magnitude higher than the EPA standard limit. We demonstrated that our probe is suitable to screen amount of mercury in different commercial fish, shellfish and water from different sources.

The University of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez is providing opportunities to obtain meaningful experiences to undergraduates, especially minority students, in the area of synthesis of functional nanomaterials and the behavior of nanostructured materials.

Perpendicular magnetic field instability in a dispersion of magnetic nanoparticles in a Newtonian liquid.
Computational visualization of supercage filled with one or multiple protonated structure directing agents.

Participants will receive formal and informal education through weekly seminars by research faculty and invited guests. The topics include: Introduction to current research in functional and nanostructured materials; Laboratory safety; Research planning; Data collection and record keeping; Research ethics; Communicating research; Applying to graduate school.

Students will have the opportunity of visiting local educational and cultural attractions during the weekends, including the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center’s Arecibo Observatory, “El Yunque” National Rain Forest Park, and La Parguera Bioluminiscent Bay.

These are highlights of the outstanding research projects in which the 2007 REU participants were involved. Texas, Connecticut, Minnesota, California, Massachusetts were some of the states represented by the dynamic group.

Program Duration
Approximately nine weeks (May 30 through Aug. 1, 2008)

Applicants

Financial Assistance
A stipend of $4,000

Application Deadline
Deadline fo all complete application packages have been extended until Friday February 22, 2008. Applications received after the deadline will be considered and reviewed only on a rolling basis.

Application Package
The complete application package is available for download from this link. This package includes two reference forms that should be completed and signed by faculty working in science and engineering fields. Detailed instructions are available in the application form.

Contact
Dr. Carlos Rinaldi, Dept. of Chemical Engineering crinaldi@uprm.edu, Off. Phone: (787) 832 4040 ext. 3585

The PECASE program recognizes outstanding scientists and engineers who, early in their careers, show exceptional potential for leadership at the frontiers of knowledge. By receiving awards through the CAREER program, the PECASE winners had already demonstrated their success in integrating research and education within the context of the mission of their organization. The 2007 PECASE winners were honored in a ceremony at the White House on November 1, 2007. Professor Rinaldi is the seventh from left to right on the top row.

Professor Rinaldi holds a beaker with oil based ferrofluid (a suspension of magnetic nanoparticles in an oil carrier fluid) with a permanent magnet underneath. The ferrofluid displays the so-called normal field instability, characterized by spikes of fluid following the local magnetic field direction. Rinaldi’s work has importance for applications in nanobiosensors and in magnetic fluid hyperthermia for cancer treatment.

(a) Undergraduate Student, Univ. of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez Dept. of Mechanical Engineering
(b) UPRM Dept. of Engineering Science & Materials

The Material Advantage Chapter of the University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez (UPRM), founded under the auspice of UPRM PREM, received a spotlight on the October 2007 issue of JOM. This is published by The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society and is distributed globally. The 2-column spotlight underscores the impact of the UPRM chapter on advancing awareness on Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) and on sustaining a successful professional organization.

This is the first MSE chapter in Puerto Rico and has a diverse membership that includes students from most engineering programs that are interested on materials. UPRM Material Advantage students have been assisting in PREM’s outreach efforts in local and regional public high schools by conducting materials science demonstrations and supporting MSE clubs established in those schools. Since its creation in 2004 the chapter has been heavily involved in almost all of major conferences organized by ASM International and TMS. The members are encouraged to prepare posters and oral presentations for those conferences.