International Research Experiences for Students (IRES) Awards for 2005

**PI:** Gottlieb, David

**Institution:** Brown University

**Proposal Number:** 0456114

**Proposal Title:** IRES: Research Experiences: Brown University
Mathematics and Applied Mathematics Students in Paris VI

**NSF DIR/DIV:** MPS/DMS

**Countries Involved:** France

**Budget:** \$105,000

**Duration:** 36 mo.

**Summary Statement:** This three-year award will provide a group of six
U.S. graduate students and a faculty advisor from Brown University with
support for annual summer research visits to the University of Paris VI
(Universite Pierre et Marie Curie) and University of Paris VII. The
purpose is to introduce students to mathematical research in analysis,
partial differential equations, number theory and scientific computing.
The summer program is led by David Gottlieb of Brown University and Yvon
Maday of the University of Paris VI.

**PI:** Ruhlandt-Senge, Karin

**Institution:** Syracuse University

**Proposal Number:** 0456119

**Proposal Title:** IRES: An American-Austrian Student Exchange for
Chemistry Undergraduate Students

**NSF DIR/DIV:** MPS/CHE

**Countries Involved:** Austria

**Budget:** \$55,000

**Duration:** 36 mo.

**Summary Statement:** With this award PI Karin Ruhlandt-Senge, and
Co-PIs from Syracuse University, will collaborate with Frank Uhlig in
the Institut fuer Anorganische Chemie at the Technische Universitaet
Graz (TUG), in Graz Austria to create a reciprocal ten-week research
exchange program involving American and Austrian undergraduate students
in the field of chemistry. Syracuse University will provide funds for
two of its own students who are either from an underrepresented
community, or are first-generation college students, to participate in
the program.

**PI:** Humke, Paul

**Institution:** Saint Olaf College

**Proposal Number:** 0456135

**Proposal Title:** IRES: Real Analysis Mathematics Opportunities for
U.S. Undergraduates in Poland and the Czech Republic

**NSF DIR/DIV:** MPS/DMS

**Countries Involved:** Poland, Czech Republic

**Budget:** \$102,950

**Duration:** 36 mo.

**Summary Statement:** This IRES activity will link researchers and
mentors at Saint Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, with
counterparts at the Silesian University in the Czech Republic and the
University of Lodz in Poland. On the U.S. side, co-principal
investigators Paul Humke and Bruce Hanson from Saint Olaf will work with
Jaroslav Smital at Silesian University, CR, and Wladyslaw Wilczynski in
Poland to manage a ten week, team-based approach to work in real
analysis as a spring board for doctoral research in a range of areas,
including set theory and logic.

**PI:** Budker, Dmitry

**Institution:** University of California, Berkeley

**Proposal Number:** 0456141

**Proposal Title:** IRES: New Research Opportunities for Global
Scientists in Eastern Europe

**NSF DIR/DIV:** MPS/PHY

**Countries Involved:** Poland, Latvia

**Budget:** \$75,000

**Duration:** 36 mo.

**Summary Statement:** This U.S.-Polish project will provide U.S.
undergraduate and graduate students opportunities to conduct
collaborative research at the joint Polish/US atomic physics and
photonics laboratory at Jagiellonian University in Krakow. Short visits
will also be made to the University of Latvia in Riga. The research
activities will be in the field of modern atomic and molecular
spectroscopy and applications of near-resonant nonlinear-optics systems
to sensitive measurements of electromagnetic fields.

**PI:** German, Randall

**Institution:** Mississippi State University

**Proposal Number:** 0603608

**Proposal Title:** International Research Experience for Students
(IRES) in Innovative Sintered Materials

**NSF DIR/DIV:** MPS/DMR

**Countries Involved:** Spain

**Budget:** \$104,865

**Duration:** 36 mo.

**Summary Statement:** This three-year award allows the US PI to support
15 graduate and undergraduate students, including minority students from
participating institutions, to work at the Universidad Carlos III de
Madrid (UC3M) in Spain. Five students per year will work in Spain for a
period of six summer weeks. The foreign counterpart is Jose Torralba of
the Material Science and Engineering Department. The students will
undertake advanced research training on the processing realities of
press and sinter nanoscale particles.

**PI:** Noronha, M. Helena

**Institution:** California State University, Northridge

**Proposal Number:** 0526008

**Proposal Title:** IRES: A US-Brazil Collaboration for Mathematical
Research Experiences for Student

**NSF DIR/DIV:** MPS/DMR

**Countries Involved:** Brazil

**Budget:** \$79,758

**Duration:** 36 mo.

**Summary Statement:** This program builds on an earlier international
Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) collaboration with Dr.
Helena J. Nussenzveig-Lopes of the State University of Campinas
(UNICAMP) in Brazil. and extends it to another student population,
namely, senior undergraduates and beginning graduate students. Each year
for three summers, seven U.S. students will travel to Brazil to work
with seven Brazilian students on problems in applied mathematics,
partial differential equations, differential geometry, and algebra. Each
U.S. participant will work in a team and be instructed by a mentor from
Brazil, and each will stay with a Brazilian family rather than live in a
dormitory.

**PI:** Roll, Jon

**Institution:** University of Wisconsin, Madison

**Proposal Number:** 0526374

**Proposal Title:** IRES: Research and Education Experiences for
Students in Molecular Biology and Microbiology

**NSF DIR/DIV:** BIO/MCB

**Countries Involved:** Thailand

**Budget:** \$104,989

**Duration:** 36 mo.

**Summary Statement:** This award supports a three-year collaborative
research project between Professor Jon Roll of the University of
Wisconsin in Madison and Professor Chalobon Yoosook at Mahidol
University in Bangkok, Thailand. They will organize an IRES program in
microbiology and molecular biology. Each year for three summers, five
U.S. undergraduate students will travel to Thailand to work with Thai
students and faculty. The main goal of the program is to attract and
stimulate motivated students to pursue careers in research by providing
them with a unique, international, hands-on experience.

**PI:** Braker, Elizabeth and McGlynn, Terrence

**Institution:** Occidental College and University of San Diego

**Proposal Number:** 0526551 and 0526561

**Proposal Title:** IRES: Collaborative Research: US - Costa Rica
International Research Experience for Students: Tropical Ecology
Mentorship Program of Southern California

**NSF DIR/DIV:** BIO/DEB

**Countries Involved:** Costa Rica

**Budget:** \$98,708

**Duration:** 36 mo.

**Summary Statement:** The U.S. investigators will coordinate
collaborative research efforts on the topic of tropical ecology with
Javier Espeleta at the La Selva Biological Station in Costa Rica. The
goal of this activity is to train talented students from
underrepresented groups to become field ecologists with experience in
international settings. To accomplish this goal the three senior
investigators will mentor four undergraduates each year in long-term
tropical-field research projects. Undergraduate students first will
conduct research at the tropical rain forest field station, and then
they will continue their research at their home institutions in a
year-round mentorship.

**PI:** Christenson, Richard

**Institution:** Colorado School of Mines

**Proposal Number:** 0526590

**Proposal Title:** IRES: Research and Education Experiences for
Students to Examine Earthquake Hazard Mitigation Utilizing the Network
for Earthquake Engineering Simulation

**NSF DIR/DIV:** ENG/CMS

**Countries Involved:** Japan, Thailand

**Budget:** \$104,825

**Summary Statement:** This award supports a three-year collaborative
research project between Professor Richardson Christenson of the
Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Professor Toru Watanabe of Nihon
University in Tokyo, Japan and Professor Anat Ruangrassamee at the
Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand. They will organize an
International Research Experience for Students (IRES) program in
earthquake hazard mitigation. Each year for three summers One US
graduate student and two US undergraduate students will travel to Japan
and Thailand to work with Japanese and Thai students and faculty.

**PI:** Madou, Marc

**Institution:** University of California, Irvine

**Proposal Number:** 0526649

**Proposal Title:** IRES: U.S.-India Fast DNA Hybridization in
Microfluidic Platforms

**NSF DIR/DIV:** ENG/BEB

**Countries Involved:** India

**Budget:** \$105,000

**Duration:** 36 mo.

**Summary Statement:** This award will enable 12 graduate and
undergraduate students from the University of California, Irvine to
engage in international research on Fast DNA Hybridization in
Microfluidic Platforms at the premier Indian Institute of Technology,
Kharagpur (IITK). The research topic for all student participants is the
theoretical and experimental development of a set of design rules for
the fabrication of the fastest and most sensitive DNA arrays in a
microfluidic platform. This study will contribute to understanding
fundamental issues such as DNA hybridization enhancement mechanisms. The
potential chemical and biomedical applications include DNA analysis,
drug discovery, and on-the-spot analysis of the medically relevant
parameters of disease. There is growing interest in the miniaturization
of complex and fully functional systems that take advantage of latest
developments in microfabrication and promise the fabrication of
lab-on-a-chip analysis systems in which various chemical processes are
accommodated onto a small chip.

**PI:** Kisaalita, William,

**Institution:** University of Georgia

**Proposal Number:** 0528062

**Proposal Title:** IRES: US-Uganda Undergraduate Research in Physical
and Transport Properties of Materials in Support of Product and Process
Development

**NSF DIR/DIV:** ENG/CTS

**Countries Involved:** Uganda

**Budget:** \$104,451

**Duration:** 36 mo.

**Summary Statement:** In each of the three years of this award, four U.
S. and two Ugandan students will work in teams for an eight-week
research project associated with ongoing collaborative research between
Dr. William Kisaalita (U.S.) and Dr. Muyanja (Uganda). The overarching
theme of these projects is to characterize native mineral materials with
respect to physical and transport properties. For example, students will
characterize native zeolites for use in low cost coolers with
applications ranging from vaccine protection to milk preservation in
rural areas where there is no access to electricity.