Nanomaterials Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) for Community College Students

About the Nanomaterials REU

The Nanomaterials REU for Community College Students program is a 10-week, paid research internship for Greater Houston area community college students to work in Rice University nanotechnology research laboratories. Participants will gain hands-on research experience in nanotechnology, one of the most exciting areas of scientific research.

The focus of Nanomaterials REU is to explore new approaches in nanotechnology through research projects focused on nanomaterials for enhanced water purification and nanomaterials to improve energy production, storage, and transmission. This REU is specifically for community college students in the Greater Houston Area. Participants will explore sustainable solutions that lead to a future where oil and natural gas are converted efficiently into hydrogen and valuable carbon materials. Where efficient tools to store and convert energy, and where new physical and chemical processes increase access to clean water in all parts of the globe.

Using nanotechnology and new electrochemical methods that could lead to widespread decarbonization through carbon-neutral or even carbon-negative synthetic routes, these technologies will deliver significant breakthroughs in research and technology that will protect our planet's climate and natural resources.

2026–2027 Nanomaterials REU Program*

Community college students of all majors that are enrolled in Houston, TX area schools are welcome to apply, but preference will be given to STEM majors.*
Priority Deadline: February 15, 2026
Regular Deadline: March 1, 2026

Apply here

All supporting documents, including recommendations, contact information, transcripts, and personal statements, are due when you submit your application. *contingent upon funding

^{*Program times, dates, locations, and compensation subject to change before the first day of the program.
**Must be a U.S. citizen, national, or permanent resident to apply due to our funding agency.}

Program Dates

Summer 2026: May 26th - July 31st

• Regular class session: Monday - Friday (No sessions on federal holidays)

Program Structure

The Nanomaterials REU for Community College includes:

• 2 day orientation at Rice University to introduce participants to the program
• Working with assigned graduate student postdoctoral research mentors on an independent research project
• Weekly meetings to discuss research experience
• STEM success meetings and networking events
• Presenting their research at a research symposium

Application

To be considered for this REU you must complete ALL sections of this application and upload the following PDF documents:

• Resume or curriculum vitae Upload in Additional Personal Background Section
• Short personal statement 1 page that describes your motivation for participating in this REU Upload in Future Research Experiences Section
• Unofficial college transcripts Upload in Academic History Section

As part of the application process please provide the contact information of two references in Recommendations Section at least one must be of a STEM professor, we will directly contact them.

Community college students of all majors are welcome to apply but STEM majors will receive priority consideration Students must be enrolled in a Greater Houston area college including but not limited to Houston City College, San Jacinto Community College, Lonestar College, Galveston Community College, College of the Mainland, and Wharton College.

Must be 18 years old to apply.

Space is very limited therefore completing the application process and being selected for an interview does NOT guarantee placement in the program. Once final candidates have been selected all other interviewed applicants may be placed on a waitlist. Applicants will be notified of their status in April.

Apply here

If you are unable to upload these documents to your application, you can email them to stem@rice.edu.

FAQs

Click here for more information regarding the Nanomaterials REU for Community College program and answers to frequently asked questions.

Rice Faculty Research Topics

Research Topic 1: Nanomaterials for enhanced water purification

Dr. Rafael Verduzco focuses on developing nanostructured polymers for energy and sustainability. The project will seek to create new solid polymer electrolytes for CO² electrolysis. CO² electrolysis is a process by which CO² is captured and converted to beneficial, high-value chemicals using an input of electrical energy. Polymers play an essential role in this process of transporting ions to produce the final product. Polymers used for this purpose should be porous, electrochemically stable, and exhibit high ionic conductivities. Students will develop charged polymeric particles and study how surface charge, particle size, and polymer chemistry influence ionic conductivity and electrolysis performance. Click here to learn more about this lab.

Dr. Pedro Alvarez examines the potential impacts of nanomaterial use and disposal on microbes. The widespread production of engineered nanomaterials and their rapid incorporation into consumer products is outpacing research into health and environmental impacts. Students will also exploit some of these materials' antibacterial and catalytic properties in engineered systems as substitutes for chemical disinfectants that generate harmful by products. Click here to learn more about this lab.

Dr. Bezawit Getachew focuses on studying novel and responsive materials to improve the
performance of water treatment technologies and enable a more resilient water infrastructure. They combine fabrication and characterization of novel materials with bench-scale studies with the goal of gaining a mechanistic understanding of the materials’ performance and use this fundamental insight to inform the development of better environmental technologies. Student projects will center around “smart materials” and membranes. To better understand how the infiltration of metal oxides impacts the transport properties of membranes, students will fabricate and characterize hybrid membranes as a function of vapor phase infiltration parameters. Finally, detailed chemical and spectroscopic characterization techniques will be used to probe the interaction of water and ions of interest with the membrane surface and bulk. Information from these studies will be used to elucidate the relationship between vapor phase infiltration parameters and membrane properties, along with a mechanistic understanding of the observed transport properties. Click here to learn more about this lab.

Dr. Raul Hernandez Sanchez works on non-covalent interactions that are ubiquitous in nature. These nominally weak interactions play a crucial role in second coordination sphere effects in organic and inorganic transformations. Engineering supramolecular systems that can exploit these interactions acting in concert holds the promise to impact the design of advanced materials, development of novel catalysts, and creation of unique substrate recognition sites. The research targets the formation of molecular nanotubes as novel organic electronic materials, develops novel small molecule activation catalysts through the modulation of metal-metal bonds, and is currently establishing novel anion recognition membranes for the removal of toxic chemicals from water. The long-term goal is to develop a bottom-up molecular-level understanding of molecular recognition and activation that they can translate to problems relevant to society at large. The research projects are all centered around the idea of using a macrocyclic species to direct the synthesis of the desired molecular target. Thus far, they have experimented and created novel structures which address challenges in optoelectronics, clean water, and energy efficiency. Students will work on the preparation and characterization of macrocyclic organic compounds and evaluate their potential use for the extraction and capture of valuable materials from waste streams. Click here to learn more about this lab.

Research Topic 2: Nanomaterials to improve energy production, storage, & transmission

Dr. Jason Adams develops new strategies for reacting sustainable feedstocks with air, water, and renewable electricity to produce value-added chemicals using catalytic processes at low temperatures. The goal is to create novel catalyst materials and reactor systems that advance the decarbonization of the chemical industry. They take a fundamental approach, investigating the mechanisms of key elementary steps at catalytic interfaces to establish catalyst design principles. To support this effort, they engineer high-throughput reactors for detailed kinetic studies, apply operando spectroscopy to identify reactive species, and build quantitative models that link material properties to catalytic performance. Through these integrated efforts, the aim is to develop technologies that eliminate the dependence on fossil fuel combustion to produce essential chemical commodities in the modern economy. The student will work on 3-D printing of custom reactor designs, which they will use for testing electrocatalyst compositions. They may also be involved in collecting rate measurements of various catalysts, measured as a function of temperature, pressure, applied potential, and electrolyte composition, which will allow for the development of mechanistic models for designing new catalyst compositions. Click here to learn more about this lab.

Dr. Karen Lozano specializes in the development of nanofiber mats and membranes using a high-throughput force spinning technique she pioneered. Students will develop nanofiber-based materials tailored for energy applications. Depending on the research direction, these fibers may serve as selective membranes for water purification, scaffolds for high-capacity battery electrodes, or as composite materials for greenhouse gas mitigation. Student projects will involve hands-on experience in fiber fabrication, morphology control, material characterization, and performance evaluation relevant to energy, water, or environmental impact. Click here to learn more about this lab.

Dr. Alina Stavroula Kampouri develops advanced porous materials—metal-organic frameworks (MOFs)—to address critical challenges in energy. These materials are designed to combine multiple functions, such as electrical conductivity, ion transport, and selective chemical reactivity, within a single, crystalline structure. Their work explores how to tailor MOFs for applications like capturing carbon dioxide directly from air, converting it into useful chemicals using sunlight, and enabling next-generation solid-state batteries through microporous solid electrolytes. By linking molecular design with performance, we aim to uncover new principles that guide the development of sustainable technologies for energy storage, conversion, and carbon management. The projects will provide students with hands-on research opportunities at the intersection of materials chemistry, chemical engineering, and energy technologies. Click here to learn more about this lab.

Dr. Haotian Wang employs nanomaterials for efficient energy storage, usage, and transformations. Students will be exposed to fundamental electrochemistry knowledge and electrocatalysis reactors to understand the reaction mechanism. And develop a bigger picture of electrochemistry's role in energy transitions. Participants will learn how nanomaterials, as compared with bulk materials, can improve energy efficiencies during molecular transformation processes. Click here to learn more about this lab.

Dr. Lisa Biswal applies colloidal and interfacial phenomena to tackle problems related to sustainable energy production. An example project includes designing and characterizing advanced composite materials composed of silicon and carbon nanotubes as anodes for lithium batteries. These anodes have ten times the capacity for lithium compared to current anodes. Another project is synthesizing surfactant micelles containing ionic liquids to replace environmentally hazardous solvents, such as benzene, toluene, and xylene, commonly used in the petrochemical industry. New research projects include fabricating electrochemical cells that can extract lithium from geothermal brines. Students will work closely with Dr. Biswal and graduate student mentors to learn experimental surface chemistry, transport properties, and characterization methods to contribute to advancing these research projects. Click here to learn more about this lab.

Dr. Ming Tang uses mesoscale modeling and characterization techniques to simulate and observe structural and functional materials over a protracted length of time. They apply theory and experimentation to understand and predict thermodynamic stability and kinetics of mesoscale structures under varying stimuli for optimizing performance. Click here to learn more about this lab.

Dr. Geoff Wehmeyer focuses on fundamental thermal transport mechanisms at the nanoscale and leverages knowledge to develop energy-relevant thermal devices. Students will work on projects focused on Nano-Thermal Energy Devices including developing active thermoelectric cooling modules using carbon nanotube fibers/tapes produced at Rice University; performing thermal measurements to optimize the thermal capacity and charge/discharge rates of phase-change thermal energy storage systems incorporating high-thermal conductivity nanocomposites; and implementing thermal regulator devices for improved passive thermal control and reliability of batteries used in electric vehicles. Click here to learn more about this lab.

Dr. Qilin Li focuses on physical and chemical processes that impact water quality in natural aqueous and engineered treatment systems and on applying novel physicochemical treatment processes for water purification and reuse. Students will investigate the mechanisms responsible for ion selectivity and evaluate the performance of the selective membranes in an electrodialysis process. Click here to learn more about this lab.

Dr. Matteo Pasquali is the Carbon Hub's director. His laboratory research seeks to convert biogas and hydrocarbons into clean hydrogen and Carbon Nanotube (CNT) Fibers. Students will work on individual projects where they will characterize the output of splitting reactors to determine the quality of the CNTs and their performance as feedstock for CNT fibers. Students will use TGA, Raman spectroscopy, and dissolution experiments to determine CNT quality. They will also make liquid crystalline solutions of CNTs and study them via polarized optical microscopy, rheology, and extensional viscosity measurements, to assess their "molecular weight" and suitability for fiber spinning. Participants will learn to ask research questions, design experiments, collect and analyze data, and pose follow-up questions to investigate further and enhance their understanding of carbon fiber process parameters and material properties.

Dr. Aditya Mohite designs and synthesizes materials and devices for converting solar energy into fuels. The direct conversion of abundant feedstocks such as water, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen to fuels using only solar energy is a promising way to achieve reliable and on-demand sustainable clean energy. For example, the generation of green hydrogen via unassisted (i.e., no external voltage) solar water-splitting requires a minimum potential difference of 1.6-1.7 V. Yet, the large voltage requirements restrict the choice of available materials and have prompted the development of several strategies for solar-driven water splitting to generate green hydrogen. Students will be able to understand and test integrated photoreactors coupled with hydrogen evolution catalysts to drive water-splitting. Students will also collect experimental data and then learn to analyze efficiency and provide feedback to inform materials and device design. Click here to learn more about this lab.

Dr. Thomas Senftle applies computational tools, including density functional theory, microkinetic modeling, and classical molecular dynamics, to study the behavior of heterogeneous catalysts. Students will pursue two project areas: electrochemical reduction of nitrate to innocuous nitrogen to identify effective catalyst compositions composed of earth-abundant materials and electrochemical reduction of CO2 into fuels to understand how pH affects product selectivity. In both projects, participants will walk away with a new understanding of the governing reaction mechanisms gained from the simulation will be used to optimize catalytic activity and selectivity while minimizing cost.

Dr. Alina Stavroula Kampouri develops advanced porous materials—metal-organic frameworks (MOFs)—to address critical challenges in energy. These materials are designed to combine multiple functions, such as electrical conductivity, ion transport, and selective chemical reactivity, within a single, crystalline structure. Their work explores how to tailor MOFs for applications like capturing carbon dioxide directly from air, converting it into useful chemicals using sunlight, and enabling next-generation solid-state batteries through microporous solid electrolytes. By linking molecular design with performance, we aim to uncover new principles that guide the development of sustainable technologies for energy storage, conversion, and carbon management. The projects will provide students with hands-on research opportunities at the intersection of materials chemistry, chemical engineering, and energy technologies.

Benefits & Expectations

The expectations of the Nanomaterials REU for Community College interns include, but are not limited to:

• Working full-time (40 hours/week) in the laboratory for the duration of the internship;
• Documenting summer hours and submitting time sheets on time;
• Completing a poster on summer research;
• Attending all REU related field trips;
• Attending and presenting at a research symposium; and
• Timely completion and submission of all course assignments and homework.
• For completing all program requirements, interns will receive:
• 10-weeks worth of sustained and supported professional development at Rice University;
• $8,250 in stipends (spread out over the summer);
• Free economy parking at Rice University;
• Networking opportunities with fellow students; and
• Training and guidance in presenting and delivering scientific poster presentations.

Program Flyer

Below is copy of the Nanomaterials REU for Community College flyer. You can access a PDF version for download here.

Nanomaterials REU for Community College Administration

If you have any questions about the Nanomaterials REU for Community College, please contact the program lead.

Faiza Zafar, Ph.D.
Director of Research, Evaluation, and Grants
713-348-8215 | fz25@rice.edu

Mirna Wilson
Research and Evaluation Specialist
713-348-8215 | mw155@rice.edu