Explore it! Building the Next Generation of Sustainable Energy Researchers

This award will establish an REU Site at the University of Maine. The program will engage 10 undergraduates each year for three years in a 10-week summer research experience. This REU site will leverage a focus area represented by the newly established University of Maine Forest Bio-products Research Institute (FBRI). Undergraduate students will conduct research advancing their knowledge of sustainable forest bio-products and will gain a detailed understanding of one of the thematic elements of the research effort as well as a broad understanding of all areas, specifically: 1) sustainable and life cycle analysis; 2) solids extraction/modification; 3) process control and sensing; 4) nanocellulose production and utilization; and 5) new project development. In addition to the hands-on research experience, undergraduate students will participate in a seminar series, field trips to gain practical knowledge of various aspects of sustainable forest bio-products, and a series of evening and weekend recreational activities. Participants will develop and utilize new knowledge to address sustainable energy issues impacting society. The REU site program will specifically target recruitment efforts towards women, minorities and students from undergraduate only institutions. Results of the research will be disseminated via campus presentations, and more broadly through journal articles and symposia

REU Site: Explore It! Building the Next Generation of Sustainable Forest Bioproduct Researchers

This three-year REU Site program builds on the substantial research strengths at the University of Maine. The focus on sustainable forest bioproducts is highly topical and of great global importance in the area of sustainable energy alternatives. Ten US undergraduate participants will conduct research advancing their knowledge of the field in general and one of the thematic elements in detail, specifically: 1) sustainability and life cycle analysis, 2) feedstock extraction/modification, 3) process control and sensing, 4) nanomaterial production and utilization, and 5) new product development. In addition the program includes an international component whereby, six Chilean students on a mutual exchange with six US students will participate in this program. Ongoing relationships exist between the University of Maine and Chilean faculty in Forest Resources and Engineering disciplines at the University of Chile in Santiago, the University of Bio-Bio in Concepcion, Chile and the University of Concepcion-UDT. The international component will allow students to learn the nuances of technical practices in the forest products industry in Chile, and discuss business, marketing, technology and environmental issues. At the end of the summer, REU student final presentations will be held at the University of Concepcion-UD in the format of a research conference. The entire conference will be streamed to the US so that the U of Maine based research teams can participate. Through participation in this REU Site program students will be better prepared to collaborate with international scholars and will develop a broader international perspective. The REU Site will specifically recruit minorities through extensive use of existing linkages with primarily minority serving institutions. All participants on this award will be non-UMaine students. The involvement of students in exciting research in the area of sustainable energy alternatives enhances the likelihood that they will consider post-graduate study and broaden the base of the Nation\u27s technical manpower. This award is co-funded by the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EHR/EPSCoR

EXP-SA: A Lateral Field Excited Acoustic Wave Sensor for Peroxide-Based Explosives

Intellectual Merit:The candidate films will be functionalized on the quartz surface of the LFE sensing platform and exposed to peroxide-based IEDs and the materials used to fabricate them under simulated conditions. Critical sensor element properties such as the response level, response time, detection limit, resolution, and linearity will be measured and the selectivity will be determined by exposing the sensor to known concentrations of chemical simulants. In addition the admittance of each sensor element will be measured to isolate mechanical and electrical property changes in the film so as to identify the unique chemical signature of each analyte and provide a higher degree of selectivity. Sensor electronics will be designed and fabricated resulting in a handheld electronic unit. The sensor electronics will simultaneously process the output from five LFE sensing elements and provide a digital readout. Finally, the prototype sensor unit will be assembled and tested for the detection of PBEs and the materials commonly used to fabricate them.Broader Impacts:The development of a detector for PBEs will demonstrate that cutting edge research at the University of Maine will benefit homeland security, the military. A successful demonstration of a field deployable detector for PBEs will motivate the development and commercialization, by small sensor businesses, of similar sensors for homeland security, military, health, agricultural, automotive, and environmental applications

MRI: ID-Development of a Hybrid Scanning Fluorescence and Sum Frequency Spectroscopy Imaging Microscope

With this award from the Major Research Instrumentation program (MRI), Michael Mason and colleagues from the Department of Chemistry at the University of Maine will develop a hybrid scanning fluorescence (FL) and sum frequency (SF) spectroscopy imaging microscope. The instrument will be constructed by the addition of sample scanning and FL capability to an existing broadband SF spectrometer. The SF NIR pump source will be used to excite SF at the sample interface, while a modulated Argon ion CW laser will excite FL. These collinear sources will give rise to spatially and temporally correlated SF and FL signals which will be separated and individually detected. The instrument will simultaneously measure the fluorescence and sum frequency to yield information about the localized dynamics of a single particle, i.e. protein, and spatially correlated structural information about the bulk material containing the particle. This yields information about the interaction between the particle and the bulk not accessible by any other method. The proposal will initially investigate test projects including the study of membrane domain structure and membrane-membrane interactions, e,g., correlation of the structure and dynamics of lipid and protein molecules within planar supported lipid bilayers. Successful development of this instrument could lead to major breakthroughs in several fields ranging from surface chemistry and biophysics to nanotechnology and cellular biology

Interference Effects in Femtosecond Sum Frequency Spectra of Model Cellulose Films

Application of sum frequency spectroscopy (SFS) to thin film structures results in complex spectra, which require theoretical deconvolution. In the present work, a new copropagating model for SF emission from model cellulose surfaces has been developed, thereby enabling the study of cellulose surface characteristics and various aspects of wood utilization. Immobilized model cellulose films have been prepared on gold-coated silicon wafers for characterization by SFS. Before quantitatively analyzing SF spectra derived from cellulose, the thickness-dependent interference effect between multiple SF sources in the cellulose/gold system was investigated theoretically. Comparisons between experimental and simulated SF spectra enable an accurate understanding of thickness/phase and thickness/intensity interference effects, which are essential to the application of SFS to cellulose and other thin films on gold. It was shown that the resonant SF signal generated at the cellulose/gold interface is small, is constant with film thickness, and that the cellulose orientation is opposite that at the cellulose/air interface. As such, resonant SF signals generated at the air/cellulose interface dominate the SF spectra, although a minor contribution from the cellulose/gold interface does exist