NSF Award
0963137
This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). <br/><br/>The project is a renovation of laboratory space on the 8th floor of Rogers Hall, the main building of the Polytechnic University of New York (NYU-Poly). The renovation will provide a modern chemical synthesis facility comprised of three multi-person labs together with four smaller rooms providing shared research support services.. This will support the research program of the approximately one-year old Institute for Engineered Interfaces (IEI). <br/><br/>The Institute for Engineered Interfaces is an interdisciplinary unit with members from six NYU-Poly departments (Chemical and Biological Sciences, Chemical and Biological Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Civil Engineering and Physics) and from the New York University Dental and Medical Schools. The design of the laboratory space is intended to promote collaboration between the different researchers. Research areas that will be explored in the renovated facility include: the design of biologically inspired materials and devices, bone growth, inflammation, cell adhesion, bioactive surfaces, biosensors, self-assembled monolayers, nanocomposites, and liposomes. <br/><br/>Within the new renovated shared space, researchers and students from diverse scientific disciplines such as physics, chemistry, chemical engineering, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, and civil engineering will be able to carry out more complex investigations and interdisciplinary scientific research. Some of the results of the research to be conducted in the renovated labs could lead to improved technologies for medicine. Senior-level undergraduates and graduate students will be involved in research in the Institute, preparing undergraduates for both industrial employment and graduate studies. As part of NYU-Poly's interaction with a number of NYC schools and their science teachers, access to the laboratories will be provided for middle and high-school outreach activities. The renovated facility will also be used to provide high-school teachers with opportunities to participate in research over the summer.
