October 8, 2004

Grant, Peretti Serve Up Summer Time Fun to Undergrads with a Yen for Green Research

For the past five summers, small groups of college students from across the nation bypassed the beaches and headed to North Carolina State University to participate in the Department of Chemical Engineering’s National Science Foundation (NSF) Green Processing Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Program. The program, which focuses on the use of chemistry — “green” chemistry — and chemical engineering for pollution prevention and environmentally conscious manufacturing, just finished its fifth and final year.

Co-directed by associate professors of chemical engineering, Dr. Christine S. Grant and Dr. Steven W. Peretti, the NSF Green Processing REU Program was one of many REU Site programs funded by the NSF. Typically 10 to 12 undergraduates, working on projects in a research program of a host institution, make up an REU Site. There are many REU Site programs across the US, but Grant and Peretti’s program was not typical.

For starters, more students, about 20 or so, attended their program each summer, and NSF funded the program for five years instead of the usual three. “We’re probably one of the largest REU Site programs in the country,” Grant said.

The number of students and length of the program came about because Grant and Peretti had allied their REU program proposal with the five-year grant for the NSF Science and Technology Center for Environmentally Responsible Solvents and Processes (STC) at NC State. The STC, made up of participants from five academic centers and two national laboratories, aims to establish scientific fundamentals that will make it possible to replace polluting solvents with environmentally friendly liquid and supercritical carbon dioxide (CO₂) in a number of manufacturing processes.

In getting started, Grant knew Peretti had directed two REU Sites in the 1980s and decided to draw on his expertise to establish an REU Site that was built around the research of the STC — environmentally responsible manufacturing, or green processing.

“Once we decided to do an REU Site,” Peretti said, “the question was how big? We had 10 or 12 faculty who expressed an interest in it. We figured we would combine the 6 STC undergraduates with about 15 or 16 of our own, and we would have a nice critical mass of 20 or so undergraduate researchers every summer. NSF happened to agree.”

Grant and Peretti welcomed their first REU students in 2000. The students worked with researchers from the Department of Chemical Engineering, the STC and the Kenan Center for the Utilization of CO₂ in Manufacturing and Technology at NC State. All their projects pertained to green processing. In addition to their research, they attended engineering ethics seminars, visited local industry sites and participated in organized social activities.

Since 2000 the program has grown to include research mentors from other engineering and science disciplines at NC State. Faculty, graduate students and postdoctoral scholars from chemical engineering, chemistry, textiles, environmental engineering and wood and paper science have served as mentors on REU projects. Topics have included enzymatic modification of whey proteins, studies on thermal stability of textile processing aids and membrane bioreactors in green chemistry. Grant and Peretti are also quick to give credit for the smooth running of the REU program to the program managers: Kirsten Reberg-Horton (2000 and 2001), Alison Al-Baati (2002) and Phyllis Hilliard (2003 and 2004).

Now that the Green Processing REU program has ended, Grant and Peretti are already mapping out plans for another five years. Proposed is a new program called “Energy, Engineering and Environmental Sustainability,” which is a variation on the theme of green processing. “We’ve expanded our view from chemical pollution to chemical and thermal pollution,” Peretti explained.

With the new program, Grant wants to focus on recruiting more students from underrepresented groups. Grant has received public acclaim for her work with underrepresented groups, including the 2003 Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring. Peretti will continue as the director with the addition of new faculty, Dr. Martin A. Hubbe, associate professor of wood and paper science, and Dr. Pamela P. Martin, assistant professor of psychology, to help run the program.

Other improvements planned for the new REU program include recruiting faculty from departments outside of chemical engineering and facilitating industrial sponsorship of other projects.

Grant and Peretti are very proud of the program. The quality of the students has been outstanding, and of the 60 students they were able to track from the first three summer sessions, approximately 36 have gone on to graduate school.

If all goes as planned, another group of undergraduates will be traveling to NC State next summer to satisfy their interest in green research. As for the beach, these students may not have to bypass that after all. A visit to the North Carolina coast may just end up on the roster of REU extracurricular activities.

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