Increasing access to smart materials and structures through undergraduate research

Smart materials and structures offer a dynamic and exciting field of research critical to advancing society as demands on engineered structures increase. A significant portion of this research is housed within universities, where there are great opportunities for high-risk, high-reward research. Unfortunately, certain populations are underrepresented in graduate-level engineering research and education, which leads to underrepresentation of these people in high-level industry and academic positions. Further, academic research programs tend to emphasize graduate level researchers, which creates increased barriers to entry into these fields by underrepresented persons who might feel limited to undergraduate experiences only. To address this barrier, we seek to engage engineers in research opportunities early in their careers with the intent to show students that research opportunities are available, and they are for them. The presenting author has established an active undergraduate research program at an R1 institution, averaging five new researchers every year. Approximately 1 in 3 of these students have continued to a research-intensive graduate education program. It was found that undergraduate students can begin actively participating in smart materials research as early as their freshman year, and that through intentional mentorship, these students are prepared to write manuscripts for peer reviewed journals and present at national conferences by their junior or senior year. Through these efforts it is shown that participation in undergraduate research leads to increased participation of diverse student populations in graduate-level smart materials research and that these experiences can have a transformative effect on the trajectory of these students’ careers.