University of Arkansas

A nationally competitive, student-centered research university serving Arkansas and the world.

The Graduate School

Office of Graduate Recruitment text on gold background.

Office of Graduate Recruitment

Funding Links

Other Graduate Schools

  • Web Site Search

2010 George Washington Carver
Research Program
Internship Descriptions

 

Business Administration

Dr. Barbara Lofton, Mentor

The Office of Diversity Programs and the Graduate School of Business at the Sam M. Walton College of Business offer a program designed to allow students to experience graduate education at the University of Arkansas.  The Carver Program in the Walton College will provide students with an opportunity to intern for 8 weeks with a major corporation in Northwest Arkansas.  Students will focus on real business challenges, solutions and processes as a part of a required project. At the end of the project, students will develop and present an executive presentation of their intern project experience.

 

Chemistry REU

Dr. David Paul, Mentor

This REU is funded by the National Science Foundation, and application must be made directly to the program.  They have positions available specifically for GWCRP students.  This internship is a 10-week internship with a different funding package.  For more complete, application information, please visit their website at http://chemistry.uark.edu/1197.htm

 

Computer Science/Computer Engineering

Ultra-Low Power IC Design

Dr. Jia Di, Mentor

The increasing demand of mobile communication and computing devices requests long operating time before recharging the batteries. Since the improvement in battery capacity has been lagged behind the dramatically increased power consumption in electronic circuits, reducing power has become one of the top constraints for IC designers. For applications that do not require extremely high speed but are strictly power limited, e.g., implantable medical devices, field sensors, satellites, it is highly beneficial if the power consumption of their electronic circuits can be further reduced than the state-of-the-art low power ICs. This project is to design, simulate, and analyze ultra-low power digital IC circuits using the industry-standard Computer Aided Design (CAD) tools. The outcomes include a thorough understanding of CMOS circuit power consumption, knowledge of ultra-low power digital IC design methodology, and skills of IC design toolsets.

 

Computer Science/Computer Engineering

Dimensional IC Design for Delay-Insensitive Asynchronous Logic

Dr. Jia Di, Mentor

In recent years, as process size has decreased thereby reducing gate latency, gate interconnect has become more of a limiting factor to performance and power. With 3D-IC’s intrinsic capacity to reduce wire length, interconnect related issues can be better mitigated, improving performance by reducing latency and power. However, thermal instability is foreseen as a potential hazard in synchronous 3D-ICs due to the temporal and spatial locality of their switching activity and the increased power density resulting from die stacking. Delay-insensitive asynchronous logic generally results in circuits that consume less power and have more uniformly distributed switching activities when compared to synchronous counterparts. On the other hand, delay-insensitive asynchronous circuits tend to suffer from longer interconnects and are generally slower than their synchronous counterparts. This makes implementing NCL circuits in 3D ideal as both their difficulties are alleviated by the advantages of the other. This project is to design, simulate, and analyze a series of methodologies in implementing delay-insensitive asynchronous circuits into 3D IC architecture using industry-standard 3D IC design CAD tools, in order to evaluate the tradeoffs in area, power, and speed. The outcomes include a thorough understanding of CMOS circuit design, knowledge of 3D digital IC design methodology, and skills of IC design toolsets.

 

 Computer Science/Computer Engineering

Dr. David Andrews, Mentor

From cell phones, through computer games to airplanes, almost every device we use in our daily life has an computer embedded in it.  These embedded devices must be powerful enough to meet stringent and challenging performance requirements, and programmable to enable them to be both upgraded and used across a widening range of applications.   Our laboratory is looking at new ways to create, design, and program the next generation embedded devices with multiple numbers and types of processors tailored to meet next generation application specific requirements.   Our lab works in interdisciplinary teams that combine individual expertise in operating systems, digital design and synthesis, and computer architecture.

 

Computer Science/Computer Engineering

Dr. Craig Thompson, Mentor

Join an active research team developing working models of healthcare facilities using the 3D virtual world platform Second Life.  Research topics include ontologies, workflow, search, and architecture scalability as well as improved models of healthcare logistics and explicit, computational models of healthcare processes.  Deploy virtual world grid technology outreach to support cooperative research with other research groups on campus, at other campuses and in area high schools.

 

Crop, Soil & Environmental Science

Dr. Nilda Burgos, Mentor

The internship in this area will include research in a combination of the following areas:

  1. Weed control options in cowpea and snapbeans.
  2. Weed control options in sweet sorghum.
  3. Extraction and Analysis of sugar in sweet sorghum in response to maturity stages.
  4. Absorption and translocation of ACCase and ALS herbicide in resistant ryegrass.
  5. Detection of herbicide-resistant individuals from Palmer amaranth populations. 

 

 Electrical/Computer Engineering

Solar Power Net Metering

Dr. Roy McCann, Mentor

Solar Power Net Metering – Recent trends in energy costs and a concern for sustainability in commercial facilities has brought attention to improved control and monitoring of electrical power usage. This includes incorporating renewable energy sources with net-metering and demand-response management initiatives allow for commercial users to optimize energy usage and costs. 

Targeted towards electrical and computer engineering students, this research project will develop microprocessor electronic circuits, sensor communications and electric power interfaces between an electric utility service (single phase 120 V and/or three-phase 480 V) and a photovoltaic array (grid connected). Software for real-time monitoring of electrical usage and generation will be developed and evaluated. Circuit design involves a mix of analog, digital and power electronic circuits. A demonstration of the system is planned at the conclusion of the eight week session.     

 

Electrical Engineering

T.A. Walton, Mentor

The project will have three key elements:  If any of these items are already completed before the summer, a comparable substitute project area will be identified.

  1. ARC FLASH STUDY:  for main 480 and MV switchgear, calculate the ARC FLASH ENERGY for each breaker.  Order stickering and determine compliance recommendations based on study.
  2. VISUAL INSPECTION of Switchgear: Complete visual inspection of all switchgear and breakers in the NCREPT Test Bay and External Transformer Cabinets
  3. MARKUP REVISION of NCREPT Electrical Drawings:  Mark up electrical blueprints to reflect electrical bus and circuit changes made since original equipment turnover.  This includes revisions that reflect the differences between the “as built” drawings and what was actually turned over to the NCREPT Executive Director.  This work will involve interfaces with other electricians from HIDEC, Eaton, etc.  Mark-ups will be turned over to appropriate engineering firm for revision.

 

Entomology

Molecular Ecology of Plant-Herbivore Interactions

Dr. Fiona L. Goggin, Mentor

We are using molecular genetics to characterize plant defenses against herbivorous insects and nematodes, with the ultimate goal of enhancing herbivore resistance in crop plants.  Current emphases of my research program include the influence of fatty acid signaling and vitamin C content in plants on herbivore host preference, survival, and reproduction.  We are utilizing tomato and Arabidopsis as model systems, and are comparing levels of herbivore resistance in genotypes with differing fatty acid profiles and vitamin C metabolism.  Herbivores considered include sap-feeding aphids, foliar-feeding caterpillars, and root-feeding roundworms.  Techniques employed in my laboratory include bioassays to measure herbivore performance, electrical penetration graph recordings to monitor insect feeding behaviors, DNA and RNA isolation, PCR genotyping, gene expression analysis by real-time PCR, spectrophotometric analysis of vitamin C and other antioxidants, and analysis of microarray data. 

 

Food Science

Masterfoods REU

Dr. Navam Hettiarachchy, Mentor

This REU is funded by Masterfoods/Institute of Food Technologies and application must be made directly to the program.  They have positions available specifically for GWCRP students. This internship is a 10-week internship with a different funding package.  For more complete, application information, please visit their website at http://www.foodscience.uark.edu

 

Industrial Engineering

Developing quality control standards to evaluate microarray studies

Dr. Justin Chimka, Mentor

Application of DNA microarray data in the diagnosis of and treatment planning for a large number of diseases is developing at a fast pace. The importance of DNA microarrays has increased dramatically this year with the detection of a new influenza virus of swine origin (H1N1), since microarray technology is vital for effective global flu surveillance, and flu vaccine safety evaluation. Furthermore the importance of gene expression data quality extends to the study of plant diseases. Considering all of this it is surprising that “few if any objective metrics or established quality control (QC) standards are used to evaluate the quality of microarray studies (JI and DAVIS 2006, p. 116),” and “the usefulness of most QC is unsubstantiated and no specific QC method has been embraced by the community (ALLISON et al. 2006, p. 58).” We want to change this by continuing to study sample sizes that support statistical methodologies and compliment associated graphical approaches.

 

Mechanical Engineering

Rapid Pico-Satellite Deployment System

Dr. Adam Huang, Mentor

Research and development of a deployment system for rapid injection of swarms of pico-satellites (small satellites that weight <1kg) into space from the upper stage of a rocket delivery system.  The student will aid in the construction of a prototype system currently being designed by a Mechanical Engineering masters student.  Expected result is the terrestrial demonstration of rapid ejection of representative pico-satellites by the end of the REU program.

 

Mechanical Engineering

Creep-Fatigue Behavior of Power-Plant Materials

Dr. Ashok Saxena, Mentor

New and accurate models are needed to predict the design life of high efficiency power-plant components such as turbines, headers and piping [1-2]. New, high chromium materials are being developed for higher temperature applications to boost the thermal efficiencies of fossil power-plants. Creep-fatigue life of these materials will determine the service temperatures of these components.

Objectives and Research Plan:  The objective is to separate the role of creep and fatigue and their synergistic effects in determining the damage kinetics of high chromium steels. . The test material chosen for the study will be a 9Cr steel. These tests will be incorporated into physically based models [3-5] for predicting high temperature time and cycle dependent crack formation and growth in a nonlinear fracture mechanics framework.

 

Mechanical Engineering

Carbon Nanotubes for ISFET Application

Dr. Uchechukwu Wejinya, Mentor

In recent years, there has been increasing interest in monitoring and controlling of pH [1]. It has become an important aspect of many industrial wastewater treatment processes. At the same time, the demand for smaller electronic devices used for various industrial and commercial applications has greatly increased. Micro and nano materials, such as Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs) [2], are known for their excellent electrical and mechanical properties, as well as for their small size, therefore they are good candidates to manufacture micro or nano electronic devices [3-5]. These devices can be used for pH control. However, this cannot be achieved unless CNTs with metallic or semiconducting band structures can be successfully deposited and separated.

Objectives and Research Plan: The objective of this work is to study the electrical and mechanical properties of carbon nanotubes in order to determine the band structures.  The research plan consists primarily of three main tasks: 1) Micro electrode design and fabrication, 2) Carbon nanotube deposition and verification using Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), and 3) Measurement and testing.  Training Plan: Week 1—Project Overview, Introduction to Atomic Force Microscope, Weeks 2-3, Microchips fabrication, CNT deposition, Weeks 4-5, Measurements and Testing

 

Mechanical Engineering
Mechanical and Tribological Properties of Nano-engineered Surfaces

Dr. Min Zou, Mentor

Tribological issues affect the production yield and product reliability in nano-electro-mechanical systems due to the large surface-area-to-volume ratios.  Our research effort focuses on surface nano-engineering to improve tribological performances in miniaturized systems [1-5].   

Objectives and Research Plan:  The objective is to study the mechanical and tribological properties of the nano-engineered surfaces produced by various fabrication techniques [1-5].  The REU student will study the mechanical and tribological properties of various nano-engineered surfaces using nanomechanical and tribological characterization equipment.

  

Mechanical Engineering

Utilizing Nanoparticles to Enhance Heat Transfer in Heating and Cooling Equipment

Dr. Darin Nutter, Mentor

The heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC) system plays a vital role in maintaining comfort, health, and security within residential or commercial buildings.  Surprisingly, the basic HVAC system has not significantly changed over the last 20-30 years, including the use of the vapor compression refrigeration cycle and the use of common and more recently alternative refrigerants.  The use of nanoparticles in heat transfer media is in its infancy [1-4] and their potential impact toward efficiency gains in HVAC equipment [5-6].  More specifically, the REU student will participate in the performance of comparative heat transfer experiments using nanoparticles entrained with refrigerant R-134a and R-410a.

Objectives and Research Plan:  The objective is to evaluate the applicability of nanoparticles to increase heat transfer in the field of heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems.

 

Mechanical Engineering
Carbon Nanotube Based Biosensor

Dr. Steve Tung, Mentor

The development of micro and nanoscale biosensors for biological and biomedical applications has become increasingly important in recent years due to concerns of homeland security and rising health care costs.  Carbon nanotubes, with their naturally small size and remarkable material properties, provide an ideal building block for manufacturing ultrasensitive biosensors at the nanoscale.   

Objectives and Research Plan:  The objective is to design and fabricate a carbon nanotube based biosensors.  The research plan is composed of three main tasks: nanotube manipulation between electrodes, bio-functionalization of the aligned nanotubes, and sensor testing in a micro/nano fluidic system.

 

Mechanical Engineering

Molecular Dynamics Simulation of Polymers and Polymer Structure

Dr. Douglas Spearot, Mentor

Atomistic simulation methods are quite robust for crystalline materials, such as metals and ceramics.  However, methods for applying molecular dynamics simulations to polymers and other semi-amorphous materials to study mechanical properties are still in their infancy [DS1].

Objectives and Research Plan:  The objective of this work is to study the structure and mechanical properties of polymers via molecular dynamics simulations [DS2].  Both coarse-grained and all-atom [DS3] atomistic simulation models will be employed using existing codes in the Spearot research group [DS4, DS5].  This research is designed to strengthen the student’s current knowledge of polymers from chemistry and materials sciences courses.

 

Mechanical Engineering
Minimum Quantity Lubrication using Nanolubricants

Dr. Ajay Malshe, Mentor

In current grinding and deep hole drilling applications, minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) is not often applied.  However, the benefits are clear in terms of potentially better surface quality and improved environmental impact.  A better understanding of the role of nanoparticles in achieving an ideal MQL is needed.

Objectives and Research Plan:  The objective is to establish a fundamental understanding of the mechanical behavior of nanoparticle-based lubricants for MQL machining.  In particular, MoS2 nanoparticles will be added to conventional lubricants and tested in grinding applications.  Preliminary results indicated significant improvement, but more tests are needed.

 

Plant Pathology

Dr. Burt Bluhm

An internship is available to study the molecular basis of plant-fungal interactions.  In a project supported by the National Science Foundation, Dr. Burt Bluhm’s research group is elucidating how Cercospora zeae-maydis, a fungal foliar pathogen, infects and colonizes maize.  The internship project will focus on identifying and characterizing molecular signals exchanged between the host and pathogen.  This project will be accomplished with a variety of molecular techniques, including expression profiling (RNA-seq), metabolic fingerprinting and profiling, functional genomics, and molecular genetics.  The specific activities will be designed to match the participating student’s research interests.  To the fullest extent possible, results will be published in peer-reviewed scientific journals. 

Plant Pathology

Effects of seed treatments on soybean growth

Dr. John Rupe and Dr. Craig Rothrock, Mentors

Seedling diseases, a serious problem for soybean growers, are caused by a number of pathogens, particularly Fusarium spp. And Pythium spp.  In addition, there are a number of chemical and biological treatments that enhance plant growth.  The student will compare the effects of various biological and chemical seed treatments on plant growth and disease development.  The student will learn to grow and identify various fungi and other pathogens, setup and conduct greenhouse experiments, measure disease and plant growth, and isolate microorganisms from plant roots.  Among the measurements to be taken, is root architecture.  This will be done by using a special scanner to produce high resolution images of root systems and them a computer program to measure various aspects of root growth.  The student will analyze these results statistically and make a written and oral report on their results.  In addition to their project, the student will help with other projects in the laboratory and have the opportunity to visit research locations in other parts of the state. 

 

Physics REU

Dr. Lin Oliver, Mentor

This REU is funded by the National Science Foundation, and application must be made directly to the program.  They have positions available specifically for GWCRP students.  This internship is a 10-week internship with a different funding package.  For more complete, application information, please visit their website at http://www.uark.edu/depts/physics/reu05/index.html

(Return to the Top)