Student-Faculty Summer Research Program Application Form
Name of Faculty Member: Takeyce Whittingham / Date: 5/26/2005format MM/DD/YYYY
Department: Science and Technology Education / Telephone Extension: 73426
Position or Title: Assistant Professor / E-mail:
Name of Student 1: Danica Fragoso / Date: 5/26/2005format MM/DD/YYYY
Telephone (Home): 9084692670 / Cell: 9083702614 / E-mail:
Class Level (Senior/Junior, etc.): Sophomore / GPA: 327 / Credits Taken:26
Name of Student 2: Alexandrina Cerquiera / Date: 5/26/2005format MM/DD/YYYY
Telephone (Home): 7325631611 / Cell: 7328952971 / E-mail:
Class Level (Senior/Junior, etc.): Sophomore / GPA: 285 / Credits Taken:29
Name of Student 3 (if applicable): / Date: format MM/DD/YYYY
Telephone (Home): / Cell: / E-mail:
Class Level (Senior/Junior, etc.): / GPA: / Credits Taken:
Title of Project for which Support is Needed: High density limit scaling of degenerate ions
Abstract of Project (In less than 50 words): We intend to use the scaling method in Density Functional Theory to study the high density limit behavior of the exchange-correlation functional for degenerate systems. Comparison to the quantum chemistry analog, the system with a nuclear charge of infinity, will be used to create benchmarks for testing density functionals.
Questions to be Answered in Students Narratives (SEE NEXT PAGE)
Kindly structure your narrative on the following pages using the following sub-headings, please remember to keep it to 1,000 words or less. (The specified area will expand automatically with narrative).
- Academic Program - Major(s) and Minor(s)
- History - A list of past research activities related to your academic program in which you have engaged
- Prospects - How do you anticipate this project will benefit you?
Questions to be Answered in Joint Project Narrative by Student(s) & Faculty (SEE NEXT PAGE)
Kindly structure the narrative on the following pages using the following sub-headings, please remember to keep it to 1,500 words or less.
- Context - How the project relates to important issues in your discipline
- Scope and Impact - Describe the project and how it will benefit Kean, the students and the larger discipline
- Goals and Methods - List the goals to be achieved and the methods used to achieve them
- Timeline - When the project started/will start and when it will be completed
- Plans for Dissemination - What types of publications/presentations will this work lead to and in what venues (please provide a tentative list)
- Detailed Budget with Justifications
Questions to be Answered in Faculty Narrative (SEE NEXT PAGE)
Kindly structure the narrative on the following pages using the following sub-headings, please remember to keep it to 1,500 words or less. This limit does not apply to the list of past research activities (sub-heading ‘c’).
- Faculty Prospects - How will this benefit you in your academic career and research agenda
- Level of Interaction - How much interaction you anticipate with your students during the course of the project (be explicit)
- Describe what the students will specifically be doing during this research activity.
- Assess the students’ ability to perform the tasks needed.
- List of Peer Reviewed Research Publications/Presentations in the Last Two Years. (format: title, author(s), journal or venue, volume, page, date, etc.)
- If you received a previous SpF award, please summarize the goals of that project and how they were met, and list in detail presentations/publications/exhibits/contributions that resulted from the award.
Endorsements
We commit to working together for at least 6 weeks starting June 15th, 2005 and to continue our research during the following academic year. We promise to submit a progress report to ORSP by August 31st, 2005.
Signature of Student 1: / Date: format MM/DD/YYYY
Signature of Student 2: / Date: format MM/DD/YYYY
Signature of Student 3 (if applicable): / Date: format MM/DD/YYYY
Signature of Faculty Member: / Date: format MM/DD/YYYY
NOTE: Please mail a signed hardcopy of this application to ORSP IN ADDITION TO the electronic submission made to with the subject line “SpF Program.”
NARRATIVE BY STUDENT 1
In the following narrative I describe the three points of interest, which are: academic program, history with research and my prospects for the coming project.
The major I currently hold in the NJCSTE program is Biotechnology. Although my major is geared towards the research of biology, my future goal is to bring the ability to research and learn biology to the classroom of high school students. My dream is to teach biology and all it has to offer in the world of science today.
Since completing my freshman year of college, I have yet to gain experience in research activities that engage in the current major I hold. This is why I am so willing to participate in this project with my professor and a fellow colleague. So, that I may learn the correct way to do research and know first hand the importance it brings to the scientific world.
The benefits of this project are numerous. The research that I will enlist in will give me valuable knowledge for the future in how to perform that research and use it to my benefit. I will be able to take my knowledge of how to research and will be able to teach it to my students and show them how important research is and the process involved. It will help me to learn and explore more in the field of science. In conclusion, this research program will help to benefit my knowledge of scientific study and how it is done.
NARRATIVE BY STUDENT 2 (If Applicable)
I am a student in the New Jersey Center for Science and Technology Education and have completed my freshman year at Kean University. My current major is the CSTE Teacher Track Combined B.S./M.A. in Mathematics. It is a five-year scholarship program in science and technology. This was the NJCSTE’s first year at Kean University, and I have found it to be a very enlightening experience. As a freshman I learned valuable applications of mathematics and science to real world situations and the use of technology in these applications. In the core classes for the program I learned how to apply mathematics to scientific problems. The science and math labs are a crucial part of the application process. In later years my studies will be geared more towards mathematics and, in my last year, I will complete courses for instruction and curriculum in order to become a certified teacher.
Regarding my academic program I have not yet had a chance to conduct a research activity. I believe this project would benefit me greatly. It would give me a chance to conduct research and gain more knowledge in science and math. I would be learning how to apply math to a scientific problem. This will be very beneficial to me because, as a future teacher, I feel that my students should know the applications of mathematics in the world around them. When I was in high school, I enjoyed math greatly, but was never shown how it was applied to everyday situations. In a way I was turned off of certain areas of mathematics because I found no use for them. The goal of the NJCSTE is what this project entails, to show how mathematics is applied to science. I feel that students are more compelled to learn if they know why they are being taught the material; it provides a greater incentive to learn.
JOINT PROJECT NARRATIVE BY FACULTY MEMBER AND STUDENT(S)
The marriage of experimental studies with computation and theory is at the forefront of research in the sciences. Many topics of interest are interdisciplinary in nature, and such collaborations are highly lucrative. The use of computation in the study of proteins and other biomolecules, for example, is not only interesting scientifically but also has major implications for the society at large. There are many examples and instances of drug discovery in which computation is used to narrow down the number of potentially useful ligands that may bind to a particular protein before experimentalists actually synthesize and study the properties of said proteins. This is particularly useful because it reduces the cost of chemicals (as fewer compounds need to be synthesized), the cost of chemical disposal, and time and labor requirements of experimentalists. Moreover, a larger number of ligands can be sampled computationally that would otherwise require a tremendous amount of time to synthesize.
Of the many computational methods available today, Density Functional Theory (DFT) is one of the most highly favored because of its tremendous balance of accuracy, cost effectiveness, and range of properties for which it can be used to study. Common uses of the theory in chemistry include the prediction of molecular geometries, reaction energies, and electronic spectra of molecules. Examples of "hot" areas in which DFT is currently applied are nanotechnology and molecular electronics, with a more recent move to include treatment of large biomolecules. An exact theory in principle, DFT is approximate in practice, requiring approximate functionals to determine the electronic properties of systems. Because the exact functional is unknown, the approximations that presently exist are typically good for certain properties and not for others; requiring users to be knowledgeable about the properties of available functionals. A major area of research in the field is density functional development, one focus of which is the determination of properties of the exact functional. As exact properties are discovered, they can be incorporated into existing or future functional approximations thereby increasing the accuracy and universality of functionals.
The project involves studies of functional approximations to the exchange-correlation energy, the portion of the total energy that must be approximated. Scaling of the electronic density is a simple and effective method in which the length scale of the electronic density is altered by introducing a scale factor and the density is allowed to compensate. We intend to study the effects of scaling on the exchange-correlation functional when the scale factor is infinitely large. Testing in this limit allows for exploration of limitations of currently available functionals and provides constraints that, upon incorporation into functional approximations, allow for greater accuracy. Such studies, some of which have been my own (see reference below), have been completed for non-degenerate ions for which the procedure is fairly straightforward.
Methods of computation and programming as well as the application of various mathematical concepts are required to complete this study. The students who will be involved in the project have recently completed their first year of studies in The New Jersey Center for Science and Technology Education (NJCSTE). A major goal of the courses taught in the NJCSTE is the integration of math, science, and computation. In their courses, the students were exposed to examples of such integration, but were limited to classic examples that could be completed within the time constraints of the course. This research experience would afford students an opportunity to see their skills being applied to problems of real and current interest and is an excellent project in which to incorporate all three areas of study. Moreover, as students of science and the scientific method, research experience is necessary for building critical thinking skills and provides a career advantage for our students. Findings would be published and made available for functional development, thereby increasing the reliability and accuracy of density functionals. Students graduating with research experience, particularly commencing at such an early stage in their education, will excel in the workplace and bring recognition to Kean University.
The goals of the project are to determine various coefficients and to create density functional benchmarks that may be used to test present functionals to determine how they behave in the high density limit. We will derive exact relations between scaling to the high density limit in DFT and increasing the nuclear charge of degenerate atomic ions to infinity. The system we will study is the beryllium isoelectronic series, for which there have been a number of difficulties in designing functionals that appropriately and accurately determine properties due to degeneracies that exist in this class of ions. Mathematical methods such as Taylor Series expansions and integration along with programming methods and computational tools are necessary to complete the project.
Students will learn to navigate in a linux environment, generate necessary quantities using computational software and codes already available, derive mathematical expressions, and write programs to test these mathematical relations derived for the ions of interest. Additionally, students have quite a bit of theory to learn in order to understand the quantities involved and their relation to each other as well as the steps that must be taken to complete the study. I project that this will require time beyond the summer of 2005. As the students will have a full course load during the school year, I anticipate that the level of production will be severely slowed. Barring unforeseen complications, I believe that it is reasonable to expect that the project can be completed by the end of the summer of 2006, not including time required for manuscript production.
The results of our research will be published in a well-known [in the field], peer-reviewed journal such as the Journal of Chemical Physics or Physical Review A. Findings will be presented in poster and oral formats at conferences such as the Annual Meeting of the American Chemical and Physical Societies. Such venues will afford students experience in and exposure to sharing scientific work with others and becoming conversant about science.
Regarding budgetary requests, this proposal seeks funding for two students to conduct research during the summer of 2005. The only resources necessary for conducting this study are computers which will be provided by the NJCSTE.
NARRATIVE BY FACULTY MEMBER
Kean University, being a largely commuter and adult community, has a large population of students who have financial obligations and must seek full-time employment in the summer. The awarding of this grant would provide me with the resources to pay students who may not otherwise be available to assist me in conducting research. Completion of this project will allow me to contribute to my field and enhance my career here at Kean. Involvement in scholarly activities strengthens me, not only as a scientist, but also as a teacher. Such experiences empower me in my endeavors to incorporate research topics and activities in the classroom. I believe that specific examples in which methods and concepts that are taught in the classroom are applied to interesting, real, current problems enhance the learning experiences of our students.
As the students have only just completed their freshman year of college and have no prior experience conducting research, my daily involvement will be required at least in the first stages until they attain a level of independence. Not only do the students have to learn the basics of the theory, but they must also learn to use the linux operating system. In addition, since my codes and subroutines are all written in FORTRAN, they will be required to learn the FORTRAN syntax so they can edit existing codes and create programs of their own. As mentioned earlier, the students have been exposed to some programming in their NJCSTE courses, so they know how to create an algorithm and debug a code. As such, learning the syntax of another language should be a feasible task.
Students will be responsible for generating the necessary quantities for the system of degenerate atomic ions using computational software and codes, deriving mathematical relations between high density limit density functional scaling and the quantum chemical analog of an ion with an infinitely large nuclear charge, testing these relations by the use of FORTRAN codes, generating graphical and tabular representations to study trends and determine exact behavior in this limit, and, to a smaller extent, involvement in writing the manuscript of research findings.
As mentioned in the joint narrative, the students of the NJCSTE have been introduced to a rigorous level of mathematics and computation in their first year Math and Computation courses. These students have been exposed to calculus and series, computing and programming, and applications thereof to chemistry since the very beginning of their college careers. Naturally they will need quite a bit of direction and hand-holding in certain instances, but they definitely have the background knowledge and this project will help to deepen their understanding of the material they have learned.
The following is a listing of my recent scholarly activities.
"Relations between coordinate- and potential-scaling in the high density limit,"
T. K. Whittingham and K. Burke, J. Chem. Phys. 122, 144103 (2005).
I presented this work at the National Society of Black Physicists Conference (Joint Meeting with National Society of Hispanic Physicists) in Washington D.C.(February, 2004), the 44th Sanibel Symposium in St. Augustine, FL (February, 2004), and the 228th American Chemical Society National Meeting in Philadelphia, PA (August, 2004).
Student-Faculty Summer Research Program Application Form