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Summary
In response to the International
Research Experience for Students program solicitation, Antal Jákli,
Associate Professor of Chemical Physics in the Liquid Crystal Institute
of Kent
State University
(http://www.lci.kent.edu/PI/Jakli/index.htm)
obtained a grant during Summer 2008, 2009, and 2010 to provide
international research experience for nine undergraduate and graduate
United States (US) students by involving them in collaborative
work in timely and important specific areas of liquid crystal science.
US students
engaged in one of the disciplines of physical sciences both at undergraduate
and graduate levels will be eligible
to participate in the project entitled Collaborative Research
in Europe on Liquid Crystals (CRELIC-IRES).
The
research projects are in the areas of:
- liquid crystal fibers
- liquid
crystal
gels and elastomers, and
- liquid
crystals with biological importance
These
research projects are in the forefront of the liquid crystal
science and hold the promise for achieving cutting
edge technologies.
Research
projects will be carried out in the:
- Department
of Materials Sciences of the University of New Lisbon in Lisbon,
Portugal (host:
Prof. Helena Godinho);
- Institute
of Experimental Physics, Otto-von-Guericke University of Magdeburg
Germany (host: Professor
Ralf Stanarius);
and
- Research
Institute for Solid State Physics and Optics
of the Hungarian Academy
of Sciences in Budapest, Hungary (host:
Prof. Istvan Jánossy)
- 1st
year (2008): The
first year’s subject will be the study of Liquid
crystal fibers,
which are free standing fluid objects with remarkable stability
and physical properties that cannot be explained by simple
fluid dynamics.
- 2nd
year (2009): The second year’s theme will be the
study of Liquid
Crystal Gels and Elastomers. These unique materials
couple mechanical strain and orientational order. They are ‘solid
liquid crystals’,
uniting liquid crystals and elastic solids.
- 3rd
year (2010): The third year’s
focus will be on the study of Biologically relevant
liquid crystals,
such as model cell membranes, which have piezoelectric
properties that will
be examined by methods used to describe thermotropic
liquid crystals such as chiral smectic materials.
Intellectual
Merits
The intellectual
merits of the project include the
new knowledge to be acquired about liquid crystal fibers, elastomers
and their
biological
relevance. Three
different aspects of these subjects will be investigated each year
by three students working with internationally recognized
foreign
scientists in three excellent well known institutions.
The different results will
be compared, combined and analyzed in a gathering during
the last week of each year’s project in presence of all three
students and the PI. In this way, not only will the students
be involved in important and
challenging research topics, but they will also learn
how to analyze
the data and make conclusions by combining each other’s
results. The students will also be actively involved
in the publication
process in the form of
presentations, reports and writing papers.
Broader
Impact
The broader
impact of the projects are also multifaceted. The students
will not only learn how to collaborate at the scientific level, but
will also learn and appreciate the culture of foreign countries, and
vice versa,
they will represent the greatest features of the American culture
in Europe. In this way, we will educate global scientists,
who will be able
to compete
in the international science market. In addition to these broader
impacts, the results of each research topic will lead to cutting
edge technologies,
such as artificial muscles, artificial nerves, better understanding
of the electrical transport processes in cell membranes, and
making smart
textiles, just to name a few of the possible technologies.
Top
Rationale and intellectual focus
As stated in the synopsis of the Program Solicitation
NSF 04-036, “For
the United States to remain in the forefront of world science and technology,
it needs an educated science and engineering workforce capable of operating
in the international research environment…”. To achieve this
educational goal internationally educated scientists working in internationally
recognized high education US institutions have to ensure that highly
motivated and well educated US students can work in high standard international
scientists
in well prepared foreign sites.
The Liquid Crystal Institute houses the Chemical Physics Interdisciplinary
Graduate Program (CPIP - http://www.lci.kent.edu/cpip.html ).
Although this graduate program is small with 10 faculty members and 5-8
PhD students
a year, it is expanding (three new faculties in the last two years) and
we plan admitting over 8-10 students a year. Before 2005 the number of
US student was always less than 1/3 of the total number of students,
but with systematic recruiting efforts this ratio became over 50% in
the last
two years, and we plan to maintain this ratio in the long run. One of
the most important factors to attract US students is the international
recognition
of the Institute and the exposure of the students to research at the
international level. Although the internationally recognized science
is already given
in the Liquid Crystal Institute, the collaborations by simply hosting
international visitors are not sufficient to see how scientists operate
and communicate
in other infrastructure. To experience this, one needs to be placed in
foreign institutions and try to communicate with people who may not speak
English.
Capitalizing
on his international connections, collaborations and experiences
Prof. Jakli will bring a small group of students in the next
three summers to Europe and involve them in collaborative work in
well defined
areas
of liquid crystal science. Each student will work in different institutions,
on different aspects of the same specific research problems, which
are in the forefront of current interest of the liquid crystal community.
Top
2008
Participants
 Professor
Antal Jakli (http://www.lci.kent.edu/PI/Jakli/index.htm) is
the Principal Investigator (PI) of this project and an Associate Professor
of Chemical Physics at the Liquid Crystal Institute.
 Professor
Ralf Stannarius (http://www.uni-magdeburg.de/anp)
is the head of the Institute of Experimental Physics, Otto-von-Guericke
University
of Magdeburg, Germany. Although he has been working and publishing in
a variety of fields of the liquid crystal science, he is most well known
about his expertise in liquid crystal gels, pattern formation and the
mechanical properties of free-standing films, bubbles and fibers.
 Professor
Maria Helena Godinho (Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Department
de Ciencia dos Materials and CENIMAT, Faculdade de Ciencias e Technologia,
Lisbon) has ongoing collaborations with partners in the UK, USA and Brazil.
She is the best known expert in Europe in the area of cellulose based
liquid crystal materials. She is originally a chemist, but she is also
doing the physical characterization of these materials. She and the PI
have long-term plans for collaboration on cellulose-based liquid crystal
materials.
 Dr.
István Jánossy at the Research Institute for Solid
State Physics and Optics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences has worked
on a wide array of liquid crystal and amorphous semiconductors. He is
most famous about the “Jánossy effect” that he has
discovered at the beginning of the 1990s in the area of nonlinear optics
of dye-doped liquid crystals. In addition his work in Budapest he has
carried out high class research also in Scotland and France. He was coworker
with Jakli for several years, but they kept collaborating later, too.
He has experience also in hosting foreign students and postdoctoral scholars.
 Stefanie
Taushanoff, Ph. D. student in the Chemical Physics Interdisciplinary
Program at the Liquid Crystal Institute, Kent State University, Kent,
Ohio, USA. Stefanie will be visiting Lisbon, Portugal with Professor
Maria Helena Godinho.
 Jake
Fontana, Ph.
D. student in the Chemical Physics Interdisciplinary Program at the
Liquid Crystal Institute, Kent State University, Kent,
Ohio, USA. Jake will be visiting Budapest, Hungary with Dr.
István Jánossy.
Jake's
CV
 Nick
Diorio, Ph.
D. student in the Chemical Physics Interdisciplinary Program at the
Liquid Crystal Institute, Kent State University, Kent,
Ohio, USA. Nick will be visiting Magdeburg, Germany with Professor
Ralf Stannarius.
Top
2008
Planned Activities
The
first year’s subject will be the study of Liquid crystal
fibers, which are free standing fluid objects with remarkable
stability and physical properties, that cannot be explained by
simple
fluid dynamics. Their unique mechanical, electro-mechanical and
optical wave-guiding properties will be studied in Lisbon, Portugal;
Magdeburg, Germany; and Budapest,
Hungary, respectively.
The
project will begin at the end of May when Nick will start
his work in Magdeburg, Germany. Stefanie will travel
to Lisbon at the beginning of June, then soon Jake will arrive
to Budapest. Tony Jakli will mainly work with Jake in Budapest,
but also will be in daily contact with Nick and Stefanie,
and will visit them in the second half of June to discuss
their progress with them and with their hosts in person.
In the last week of the program Nick and Stefanie will join
Jake and Tony Jakli in Budapest, where they will visit several
universities and research institutes in Budapest and in neighbor
countries, such as the Jozef Stefan Institute in Ljubliana,
Slovenia (hosts Martin Copic and Slobodan Zumer).
At the end of August, Stefanie, Jake and Nick will give a joint seminar
at
the Liquid Crystal Institute about their experiences in this program. By the
same time each students will be required to submit an over 10 page written report
summarizing the scientific results and conclusions. They are also required to
summarize their experience concerning the lodging and other everyday life and
cultural
experiences, and give suggestions that Jakli can use to improve the quality
of the project. Top
Logistics
and Accommodation:
Fortunately,
no visa is required in any of the European Countries where the work
is planned. Student's travel insurances will be purchased from the
Grant.
The housing and local travel, shopping, etc. will be mainly organized
by the host partners. The students will be accommodated in conveniently
located guest houses or moderately priced, but decent hotels. For local
travels the students
and Jakli will use public transportation. Such forms of
travel also
help them to make social contacts.
To learn about the culture of other European countries, we will encourage
the students to purchase EuroRail Passes, which make them eligible
to travel inexpensively by train or bus everywhere in Europe within
one
month period. The host partners have also committed to giving the students
advice about places and events worthwhile
to see. Taking a basic language course in the Critical Language Department
of Kent State University prior to their travel will be encouraged.
Top
Eligibility
and Application
Each
year we will recruit 3 students of the following three different categories:
- a
prospective future PhD student, who plans to join a PhD program
at Kent State University, preferably in the Chemical Physics interdisciplinary
program of the Liquid Crystal Institute;
- a “lab-rotation” CPIP
PhD/MS student, who is doing research assistant work in
rotation between different labs;
- a
senior CPIP PhD student, who is already working
on his/her dissertation and assigned to one advisor
Successful
applicants of the projects will meet the following criteria:
- Citizens,
nationals or permanent residents of the United States at the
time of application in accordance with the NSF-04-036 Program Solicitation.
- Full
time student in the fields of physical sciences enrolled in
an undergraduate program of any US University, or in the graduate
program
of Kent State University, preferably in the Chemical Physics
Interdisciplinary Graduate Program with a minimum overall GPA of
3.4 at the time
of the application.
- Must
hold a US passport.
Note: Speaking
a foreign language such as German, Portuguese or Hungarian is
a plus, but not necessary in view of the widely spoken English
the European countries to be visited.
Students
interested in the IRES program must provide:
- current
transcripts,
- a
written statement describing their interest
in participating in international
research programs,
- long-term
career objectives, and
- a
description about how their involvement in the IRES program
will help
their goals.
All
candidates will be interviewed
in person by the PI and the graduate coordinator of CPIP.
Students with
demonstrated
interest
in international
research, members of
underrepresented minorities
and persons
with disability will be
given preferential considerations
during the selection
process.
Top
Contact
Us
Prof.
Antal Jakli, Principal Investigator (PI)
Liquid Crystal Institute
Kent State University
P.O. Box 5190
Kent, OH 44240
Phone: 330-672-4886
Fax: 330-672-2796
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