this field is that it is truly a global enterprise, not only in its impact, but also in its research,

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1 Globalizing Engineering Education in Materials Development for Optics and Photonics (MDOP): a Princeton-São Paulo partnership Craig B. Arnold Princeton Institute for Science and Technology of Materials; Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Cleber Renato Mendonca Sao Carlos Institute of Physics (IFSC/USP) General Proposal Overview: The goal of this project is to establish a bilateral partnership on materials science between Princeton University (PU) and the University of São Paulo (USP) that is aimed at globalizing the technical and academic experience of our scholars and students through an integrated research and education exchange program between our campuses. With the support of the PU-USP Partnership initiative, we will develop a link between our two institutes that will provide tangible benefits for the students, researchers and faculty that would not be possible within the confines of either university individually. The context of this new partnership will be in the scientific area of materials development for optics and photonics, a subject that is broadly represented by the world-leading researchers on both campuses and a technological area that continues to thrive globally. Involved faculty will visit the corresponding partner campus to give lectures and seminars, participating students will have opportunities to visit and learn at both of the institutes through long-term and short-term visits and research collaborations, and we will train post-doctoral scholars who will divide their time between our two campuses. This novel type of integrated approach to scientific and technological development is not currently found in either of our universities and provides a rare opportunity that will not only expand the research efforts at each school, but give the participating students and scholars a unique perspective on the international aspects to the research. Materials development for optics and photonics (MDOP), a field of study that focuses on the control and use of light, is at the heart of many necessary and emerging technologies that we depend on today. From sensing health and environmental maladies to enabling the internet to transmit data with speed and accuracy, light can be used for many important and perhaps surprising things beyond just illuminating a room. But one of the most significant aspects of this field is that it is truly a global enterprise, not only in its impact, but also in its research, education, and development. Unlike technological areas which require large and expensive capital equipment, many MDOP studies can be done almost anywhere with relatively small-

2 scale, low-cost, table-top experiments. This fundamental factor has helped to level the playing field between economically developed and developing countries, allowing great advances to come from all corners of the world. It is for this reason that we seek to enhance the research and education programs in MDOP at PU and USP by incorporating a global context in our studies, a concept that is not commonly found in a traditional engineering curriculum, but one that has the potential to provide a distinct and unique benefit for our students and scholars who seek to make an impact in this important area. Scientific and Intellectual Context The field of MDOP is quite broad, but we will focus this seed effort on combining the complementary background and expertise in the PIs groups at USP and PU to develop new types of materials that incorporate engineered nanostructures into host materials. Such structures have the potential to impart novel responses when transmitting light or when exposed to light. The group at USP is world-renowned for their research in optically active polymer materials and the use of ultrafast lasers to modify and characterize the material properties. One of the more recent advances from this group has been the development of laser based methods to incorporate gold nanoparticles (<100 nm) into polymer materials. The group at PU is well-known for their research on laser-matter interactions and the development of liquid-based methods to fabricate chalcogenide glass materials for use in long wavelength (> 3 um) photonic devices. One of the more recent advances from this group has been the integration of silver nanoparticles in the glass matrix and the subsequent modification of this material which leads to extremely large changes in optical properties upon illumination. The complementary expertise of our two groups provides a unique opportunity to tackle the underlying physics and chemistry of these heterogeneous structures and develop novel materials for advanced optical applications. In addition to the complementary scientific enterprises at USP and PU, the partner institutions represent two different and unique educational and research environments. Both are considered top engineering research institutions in their respective regions. However the cultural environment, both inside and outside the lab is quite different. Clearly there are basic language and societal differences in the general community. But within the labs, there are

3 important differences such as the way that problems are approached and solved, the local career opportunities for graduates and trainees, the licensing and protection of intellectual property, the use of technicians and staff in labs, the way that funding is obtained to explore scientific and technological ideas, even the basic rules of occupational safety and compliance can be quite different. By providing this global experience to our students and researchers we are instilling them with increased confidence and better preparing them for the types of situations they will encounter beyond the university. Beyond the general university environment, the groups of the two PIs are also quite different even though there are commonalities in the research directions. The PU group is found within an engineering school and employs primarily engineering graduate and undergraduate students in what one might consider more applied scientific research. At USP, the PI s group can be found within a Physics department and the students and staff tend to come from the natural sciences with a greater focus on the fundamental aspects of the research. This balance between fundamental and applied research in MDOP is critical for technology development and by creating a program that will encourage our students and postdocs to learn both sides of this balance will give them additional understanding and skills that will be a great benefit for their future careers. Global Aspirations Demystifying the scientific experience: Princeton University prides itself on taking a global view of academics to educate students who will become leaders in their chosen fields. We encourage undergraduates to spend time, whether in a bridge year or through study abroad, to move beyond the campus and to make a difference in the community at large. These ideals tend to be difficult to incorporate into engineering disciplines. Engineering accreditation places significant constraints on course requirements and it can be hard for students to find an opportunity to gain international experience. In research, the focus on laboratory based experimentation also can create hardships in gaining experience outside the individual research group. USP is the country s most prestigious educational institution, being the largest Brazilian university and one of the largest institutions of higher education in all of Latin America. In the last decade, given its position in South America, internationalization of USP first started by an

4 initiative to broaden the participation of students from across Latin America to pursue their master and PhD. In the last few years, USP has been focusing its efforts on increasing its international presence, by taking actions to encourage graduate and undergraduate students to spend time abroad, as well as by stimulating faculties to carry out sabbatical years overseas to gain international experience, leading to a global view of science and education. By establishing this collaborative program, we will provide an opportunity for our students and post-docs to take advantage of the experience they gain from spending time learning in a foreign country. Both PIs during their PhD and post-doctoral stages of their career were fortunate enough to gain such international experience which we found formative in helping us to appreciate and understand the challenges and opportunities of research and development in different places. This personal experience has sensitized us to many of the challenges faced by visiting students and will allow us to better mentor and advise our international visitors. Another important goal of this collaborative effort is to use this exchange opportunity to demystify certain stereotypes associated with scientific research at an Ivy League institution and scientific research in a developing country. Regardless of the location, good research shares many common traits such as thoughtful experimentation, rigorous theoretical background, and a strong ability to present the research to a greater audience. Many students have preconceived ideas about how science is done elsewhere and are not necessarily aware of the commonalities. By giving students the opportunity to observe firsthand the research that is done in our respective institutes, we will increase their comfort level and confidence in the global scientific community. Longer term programming In this proposal we have requested three years of funding to support the research and educational exchange for a number of students and scholars. One main reason for this is to increase the chances that this seed program will attract a robust student interest and to give time to recruit and hire a shared post-doc. But in addition, we hope that with the extended time, there will be ample opportunity to assess the success of the program, make any modifications/changes, and ultimately attract other PI s to join the effort by hosting exchange

5 students and allowing their students and postdocs to participate. Our goal is to maximize the number of students we can accommodate given the funding level available. In addition, we hope to encourage other faculty members to travel to the partner universities to participate in this program. As the exchange focus is primarily on graduate students and postdoc this project directly fits within the existing programming at the graduate level and would continue to do so after the three-year grant expires. A secondary goal of this seed program is to develop a model that can incorporate undergraduate students in this research and education exchange program. In the current form, our expectation is that undergraduate students at the respective universities will participate in this program by helping to host visitors and working with the shared postdocs and visiting students to learn from them in the host environment. Although we have not requested explicit funding for undergraduate exchange, our hope is that during the time of this grant, we will be able to leverage traditional study abroad programs to incorporate undergraduates in our research efforts during their travel. Such a result would fit within the long term programming goals of our universities and would provide new opportunities for undergraduates which are not currently available. Engaging Students and Scholars at Princeton-USP: We propose to actively engage graduate students and post-doctoral scholars in this program as well as engaging our colleagues at our respective institutions. However in order to best accomplish this, we have found that the research associated with the exchange must be directly relevant to the individual student s dissertation research. In other words, the research performed during the exchange will not be extracurricular, but central to the degree progress of the student. To this end, the PIs will work together to customize an individualized research plan for each visiting student at the corresponding university. This customization will be based on close discussion and consultation with the student s dissertation advisor. The project will be closely monitored by faculty members at both schools and regular skype/conference meetings will take place in order to keep the student on track for a timely degree completion. In addition, for each visiting student, a host student will be assigned to help integrate the visitor in the new environment. The host experience will serve to engage more students in this overall

6 effort. Although the first projects will focus on the particular research activities of our two groups, we will quickly engage our colleagues with the expectation that additional projects within the overall area of MDOP will become available for participating students. In the case of the postdoctoral scholars, we are anticipating a postdoc who will split his/her time equally between the two campuses. The goal of this floating researcher is to not only provide a novel training experience for him/her, but to have this postdoc help to mentor the visiting/exchange student. We believe that by constructing a well-defined and highly relevant project for the graduate students, it will be relatively easy to gather interest among the students and faculty at our institutions to participate. The students will see the immediate benefits of having an opportunity to gain international experience without having to sacrifice the direction or timeline for their dissertation work. The advisors will also be encouraged to participate as the time the students spends as a visiting researcher will be relevant to the dissertation and therefore will not be wasted. In addition, by using this program to link students across campuses, the faculty will gain the added benefit of increasing the diversity in their groups and developing new collaborations and with leading scholars who they may not have been aware of before. Once again, although undergraduate students will not be the focus of the exchange program, the visiting graduate students and post-docs will be encouraged to interact broadly with the existing students at the partner institution to share their personal experiences. In particular, we will encourage undergraduate students to interact with the visiting students through weekly group meetings and other special events. Detailed Plan of operation: Graduate student exchanges: As mentioned above, the graduate student exchange will be a central component of this project. Students participating in this program will be selected by the PIs at each campus. If there are more students interested in participating than funding permits, we will institute an application process to help with the selection. Students will first consult with the corresponding PI at their home institution to identify the major area of their project, the time desired to spend overseas, and the availability of funding to support the student (from

7 other funding sources such as NSF or FAPESP). Provided the funding conditions are met and the student is making satisfactory progress toward their degree, he/she will be allowed to enter the program. Based on the dissertation research area, the PI will consult with the partner PI to determine an appropriate faculty member to host the student at the partner institution. For the initial students, CBA and CRM will host. However, we will actively recruit colleagues to serve as additional hosts for our other visiting students. Once a prospective host is selected, the student will initiate direct contact with the host faculty member to develop a viable research project in the area of materials development for optical and photonic applications. The student will be responsible for writing up a 1 page abstract of the proposed research along with a statement on how this research is related to their dissertation topic and a proposed timeline (length of stay, time of stay). This statement will be shared among the PIs as well as any other involved faculty members for final approval. The length of stay will vary depending on the student interest, but our goal is to enforce a one month minimum stay for the students so that there is sufficient time to produce significant scientific results. Once a project is approved, we will initiate the application process for official visitor status on behalf of the student. At Princeton, this implies applying for VSRC status. Given the restricted number of VSRC s allowed in a department at a given time, we may need to work with the graduate school to ensure that our students will not be otherwise prevented from this program due to an individual department s limitations. At USP there are no restrictions about number of visitors allowed in the São Carlos Institute of Physics at a given time. The only required is an official letter from the host, responsible for the visitor, to the Institute director informing about the visit, who will provide an invitation letter for visa purpose. Once visiting status is granted, the student will apply for the appropriate visa status for the trip. In addition, the visiting student will be assigned a host graduate student/postdoc who will assist the visitor in getting set up at the new university including help with travel and housing. Upon arriving as a visitor, the exchange student will undertake a number of activities in addition to their proposed research in order to gain additional benefit. Students will be required to give a research presentation within the first week of their visit. In this presentation, the student should discuss their current research as well as the particular project that they are

8 going to be working on during their stay. The purpose of this talk is so that the students at the host institution have a chance to meet and see the visitor and to understand the kinds of skills and interests he/she has. In addition, this presentation will give the visiting student the opportunity to receive feedback on their presentation skills from the host faculty member and host PI. During the last week of the visit (for visits lasting at least 1 month), the visiting student will be asked to give a second research presentation to the group. In this presentation, the student will discuss the research accomplished during their visit and discuss some of the lessons learned from their visit. For students staying at PU for longer visits (3 months-1 year), we will arrange to bring the student to a professional society conference where they will have an opportunity to present their research to the greater research community. This will include the Materials Research Society conferences, SPIE photonics society conferences, Optical Society of America conferences, or American Physical Society conferences depending on the time of year and research preferences of the student. In addition, for these longer visits, we will arrange for the visiting students to audit one of the courses on Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) which is already mandatory for PU graduate students. During the exchange period, the student will be encouraged to participate completely in the host group. This includes attending group meetings and other regular group activities. It also means that visiting students will work closely with host graduate and undergraduate students. In addition, regular conference/skype calls with the home institution will take place in order to ensure that the student continues to make steady progress toward the completion of his/her degree. To help encourage the student to explore new ideas in their new environments, we have allocated a fixed amount of research discretionary funds to each participating student. For practical reasons, all expenditures must be approved by the host advisor. Postdoc exchanges: The exchange of post-doctoral scholars will focus on different aspects of the visiting experience and training. The first major difference is that the post-doc will not be a casual visitor as the graduate student, but a researcher hired with the express intent of spending a predetermined portion of his/her time at the partnering institution. A collaborative

9 research project of mutual interest will be developed and we will seek a postdoc through traditional hiring channels. We anticipate that financial support for the salary will come from sources external to the PU-USP project as discussed in the section below. Upon identifying a promising candidate, we will jointly interview him/her. Depending on the candidate s home country he/she will be asked to visit one of the participating universities and present a research seminar. This seminar will be broadcast to the other partner institution using existing teleconferencing equipment. During the interview process, a complete discussion of the PU-USP project will take place and the candidate will be made aware of the travel and residency requirements for this position. Once a suitable candidate has accepted an offer, he/she will begin work at one of the two partner universities as his/her home base. Our goal is to evenly share this floating postdoc, however a mutually agreed upon visiting schedule will be decided with input from the candidate as well as the funding sources. Although the first joint postdoc will be shared between the PIs of this proposal and the research project on developing nanoparticle enhanced metamaterials for improved optical non-linearity has been discussed, our hope will be that we will be able to provide a model for other faculty at the participating universities to establish similar collaborations. For those cases, this PU-USP project will provide support for travel, associated fees, and research supplies. The floating postdoc will not only be closely mentored by the PIs and associated faculty, but he/she will be responsible for helping to mentor and train the exchange graduate students. Given the complications of visas and travel, we will try to arrange the post-doc visits and graduate student visits to overlap, reducing the administrative overhead. In addition, the postdoc will be expected to present two research talks per year (one at each institution) and he/she will be given the opportunity to attend one international conference/workshop per year. Similar to the visiting graduate students, we have allocated a fixed amount of discretionary research funds to help encourage the host faculty member and post-doc to lead new research efforts and expand their knowledge base in the area of materials development for optics and photonics. Faculty visits: Although the focus of this program is on student and post-doc exchange, we feel that there is much benefit to encouraging participating faculty to travel to the partner

10 institutions. We anticipate that each PI will travel at least once per year to the partner university. During these visits, there will be scientific and technical discussion focusing on the student projects as well as developing new ideas and research directions. During these visits, the visiting faculty will present a research seminar to the host group/institute and generally be accessible to the host students. In addition to the research seminar, an informal gathering of host students with the visiting scholar will be organized. This gathering will give students at the host institution the opportunity to interact with the visitor at a more personal level, further instilling comfort and confidence in the students which will be beneficial in their future careers. We expect the faculty visits to take two or three days giving ample opportunity for scientific discussion among the host students and scholars and the visitor. The initial faculty visits will entail the PIs visiting their respective counterpart. However, given the travel support provided by this PU-USP project, we hope to encourage and support our colleagues in optics and photonics to make similar visits to our partner institutions. Conference Travel: One of the most important activities for scholars is attending professional society meetings and other technical conferences. We have allocated resources in this program to be able to send the participating students and post docs to one conference per year. This conference should be a professional society meeting where the student/postdoc will present his/her research. How this fits into existing departmental/institute interests: The proposed plan outlined above provides a new dimension in engineering education for the study of optical and photonic materials. This subject matter is central to the existing graduate curricula at both schools and an important part of the research efforts at our respective institutes. At PU, we have a number of research groups in the MDOP area. These faculty members will find great value in the proposed program. From a curricular level, PU offers both graduate and undergraduate programs in materials. The research area outlined in this proposal is a direct fit with the ongoing efforts and so participating students will find that they are able to gain this new experience without sacrificing time toward degree completion or having to otherwise put their studies on hold. For undergraduates at PU, all students must complete senior independent

11 work and those students working in the research groups of the participating faculty members will find a unique value in working with graduate students and postdocs from USP. The materials science research performed under this program will not only fit with our existing programs, but it will strengthen our programs by forming a catalyst for additional collaborations within the partner universities. In addition, at PU within the materials institute, we have a number of major, multi-pi research grants from the federal government. These programs have a distinct outreach and diversity component which would be strengthened by the proposed PU-USP project. We have professional specialists on staff who help maintain shared research facilities as well as administrative staff with extensive experience in dealing with student exchange across different campuses and hosting visiting scholars. Furthermore, by establishing this exchange program, we can leverage this PU-USP seed funding toward helping us to maintain our current centers and acquiring new government grants in an increasingly difficult US funding climate. The most related activity at PU is the NSF-ERC MIRTHE Center. This center is focused on research for mid-infrared technologies for health and the environment. This research has a large component in developing new materials for optics and photonics and in talking to the director (Claire Gmachl), they have already expressed a keen interest in seeing us establish this connection with USP. The MIRTHE infrastructure will help us to integrate the visiting students with the PU research environment. São Carlos Institute of Physics (IFSC) at USP is one of the most advanced institutes in Brazil in the field of optics and lasers and possesses state-of-the-art equipment for conducting research in nonlinear optics and laser microfabrication. The Photonics Group at IFSC, led by Prof Mendonca, has strong experience in the investigation of nonlinear optical process in inorganic and organic materials as well as on the use femtosecond laser pulses to microstructuring materials for novel applications from optics to biology. Thus, the infrastructure of IFSC and Photonics Group will be completely available to receive the visiting students and faculty from PU. Strategy for longer term and complementary support:

12 As seen in our attached budget, the majority of the support from this grant will go toward travel, student fees, and research expenses. We have not budgeted support for student stipends or post-doc salaries. The reason for this is that we anticipate raising funds for these through other, more traditional sources. For instance, on the PU side, we will use our existing grants which support our student stipends. As this project continues, we will continue to submit proposals to NSF, DoD, DOE, and other government sources to support salaries and stipends. In addition, we will seek additional support from other on-campus centers (MIRTHE, PRISM, ACEE, Keller Center). In particular these other sources will be invaluable to support post-doc salaries. On the USP side, additional funding from the Federal Government (CNPq and CAPES) and also from the State of São Paulo Funding Agency (FAPESP) will be used to help the present proposal. For instance, several students at the USP have already a PhD fellowship from FAPESP, from which they can apply for an additional fellowship to study abroad (FAPESP-BEPE). As mentioned above, our strategy for maintaining the long term viability of this project is by integrating it with our existing offerings and thereby making it a central part of our academic and research mission. By leveraging funds to support the salaries and stipends, we are covering the most expensive aspects to the research effort. After the three year period is completed we will seek government and industrial monies to support the travel component of this exchange program. Our goal would be to leverage this program within a major research center (on the scale of an NSF-ERC, STC, or other similarly large multi-university effort). From the Brazilian side, funding to continue the established collaboration between PU and USP can be obtained through government agencies (FAPESP, CAPES and CNPq). Concluding thoughts: This proposal aims to create a new model for science and engineering education through a student exchange partnership between Princeton University (PU) and the University of São Paulo (USP). The research is focused on materials development for optics and photonics, allowing us to leverage existing research funding and student support, in order to bring a new dimension to the traditional graduate and undergraduate education. Our general model would apply to other areas as well and we hope to broadly engage students and scholars at our institutions by providing tangible benefits for their scientific and career development.