Interdisciplinary Education & Research

Our proposed IGERT program is aimed at creating a unique graduate education and training that will produce the next generation of researchers and teachers in emerging nanophotonics technology. We envision the educational features of this IGERT, integrated with the research efforts, to produce:

• a Nanophotonics graduate education research and training program unique on the national stage and complementary to other established and successful IGERT programs in areas such as Optical Science and Engineering (U. Colorado/JILA), Advanced Optical Materials (UCSB), Cellular Engineering (Rice University), and Optical Molecular Bioengineering (University of Texas);
• a program that explicitly trains both theorists and experimentalists in the applied physical sciences who are capable of devoting their expertise to collaborations with engineers or life scientists, and to participate in multidisciplinary teams, sharing their expertise with others with an understanding of ethics and responsible research conduct;
• a program that emphasizes communications skills in a variety of contexts: bi-weekly meetings where researchers share their results and problems in both structured and informal formats (already in place across many of the existing project areas via LANP), collaborative projects with scientists from other disciplines, and multiple opportunities to communicate research results at conferences and national and international meetings;
• a program that connects the advances in Nanophotonics developed at Rice with global cutting-edge developments in this field at five leading institutions in Nanophotonics worldwide and within one national laboratory;
• a program that enriches the training of its graduates through an industrial internship program, where the graduate student can participate in a collaborative project in either a large corporate research setting or a small company/startup environment.

The graduate training program that we have proposed provides a multidisciplinary experience in nanophotonics that integrates research and education activities. In developing this program we have examined the extensive literature describing the need for and successful management of interdisciplinary research. Recent studies of graduate education point to the need for increased breadth and career options for PhD candidates, increased participation in interdisciplinary work, and a view of doctoral graduates as citizen-scholars who use their talents and expertise to benefit and address the needs of a global society. Our program is structured to meet these needs.

Students interested in participating in this program will apply to the Rice Applied Physics Program (application information and form currently available online). The online application for this currently existing program will be modified so that the applicant can specify the Nanophotonics option. Applicants will also be recruited from our CONJUNTO Scholars & Mentors REU program and the Rice AGEP Program. Applications will be reviewed by the IGERT Oversight committee. IGERT students will be paid by IGERT funds for the first two years of the program, and will be shifted to research funds for the remainder of their time to degree.

The Nanophotonics IGERT supports a “degree-plus” program consisting of several components. The components of our IGERT program are:

1. a suite of interdisciplinary course requirements that provides our students with a science and engineering foundation specifically suited for Nanophotonics: from the fundamentals to its applications across a range of disciplines
2. a co-advisory research structure to facilitate and cultivate interdisciplinary projects and ideas
3. an international research semester
4. industrial internship experience.