Whether they are designing electronics, vehicles or a new cutting-edge device, engineers need materials they know will function well for their creation’s purpose. Understanding how those materials stand up to physical forces is a key part of the process — one a group of students at California State University, Bakersfield recently learned firsthand through the Summer Undergraduate Research Experience.
Sponsored by Chevron, SURE gives students in CSUB’s School of Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Engineering a chance to work in the lab alongside professors on research projects covering a wide variety of topics across many scientific disciplines.
This year, one of those projects included a study on the computational design of engineering materials with Dr. Sungwook Hong, an associate professor in CSUB’s Department of Physics and Engineering. The five students working with Dr. Hong learned how to create and run computer simulations that show what happens at the atomic level when materials like aluminum, gold and iron are stretched to the point of fracture.
“Why this is important is if we understand mechanical properties at this level, we can better design engineering materials,” Dr. Hong said. “Some things require very soft materials, some require very hard materials. We are trying to understand the basic patterns of the materials, and then based on our knowledge from here, we are trying to design engineering materials with our desired properties.”
This was one of this year’s 11 SURE projects, all led by CSUB faculty members. The 2023 program was the first ever to be held fully in person since SURE started in 2021, a year after its original inaugural season was postponed due to COVID. The students worked on their projects for four weeks, with their efforts culminating in an Aug. 3 poster presentation, during which they shared a total of 19 posters in the CSUB Student Union.
“Early research involvement can be such a formative experience for students,” said Dr. Andrea Medina, director of grants and outreach for NSME. “It puts into real-life practice some of the topics they learn in class and gets them excited about what they can do in their future careers. In the more immediate term, it also helps them to expand their knowledge base and boost their confidence when they’re back in the classroom.”
In Dr. Hong’s lab, students spent the first week of SURE learning the simulation software and the following week practicing on it with a model made by the professor. By week three, students had built their own structure to put through the simulation. On their computer screens, animated, atomic-level models of their chosen material could be manipulated with a simulated stretch to the left or right or an increase in temperature.
“I liked seeing how the program has a movie option where it can show how the material is affected over a period of time in the simulation,” said Daniel Jimenez Flores, an electrical engineering major who will start his fourth year this fall. “So, if you were to set our simulation for an hour, it will show over the course of the hour how it’s affected by the conditions we set.”
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