REU Site: Experimental and Computational Spectroscopy: Fundamental Probes of Molecules, Molecular Interactions, and Materials

This Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) site award to The Ohio State University located in Columbus, Ohio, supports the training of 10 students for 10 weeks during the summers of 2026–2028. In this program, funded by the Chemistry section, students conduct research under a faculty mentor and participate in weekly meetings that provide professional development training for future postgraduate degrees in STEM fields. The program supports participants from institutions that lack specialized instrumentation for research, especially in underserved Rust Belt cities and Appalachian counties in Ohio and neighboring states. The REU program, augmented by long-term outcome tracking and assessments of program effectiveness, provides these students with mentoring and networking opportunities that will enhance their career opportunities in science and technology. The research training in this program is focused on how to use laboratory instruments and computers to learn about molecules and materials using electromagnetic radiation at wavelengths spanning the spectrum from radio frequencies to visible and ultraviolet light to x-rays, for a broad range of applications. The spectroscopy research theme overlaps foundational ideas taught in initial chemistry courses, ensuring that even beginning students have some existing subject-matter knowledge upon which they can build. Training in the interactions between light and matter (spectroscopy) is critical for creating a workforce prepared for 21st century jobs in fields such as biomedical imaging, materials characterization, and quantum information science. In addition, the program features a weekly workshop on math and coding that will include elements of artificial intelligence (AI) fluency and machine learning (ML) as applied to laboratory experiments in spectroscopy. These activities will prepare students to enter a cyber- and AI-enabled workforce where coding skills are often necessary even for experimental spectroscopists. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria. NSF Award ID: 2548122 | Program: 01002627DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT | Principal Investigator: John Herbert | Institution: OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY, THE, COLUMBUS, OH | Award Amount: $425,610 View on NSF Award Search: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/show-award/?AWD_ID=2548122 View on Research.gov: https://www.research.gov/awardapi-service/v1/awards/2548122.html