National Science Foundation officials are eager to fund a new undergraduate research program that will send 12 U.S. students, six of them from USC, to universities in Japan for semester-long research experiences beginning in fall 2002.

"USC has a good record of providing relevant undergraduate research experience, and the NSF is committed to supporting this kind of education for U.S. students at Asian universities," said John Van Zee, a professor in chemical engineering who is coordinating the project with fellow department faculty member Michael Amiridis.

For the past four years, top chemical engineering students from across the country have competed for summer research positions at USC. The NSF-supported Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) has brought in scores of students from nearly 50 universities; many of them have enrolled at USC as graduate engineering students as a result of their exposure to the Department of Chemical Engineering.

"About 70 to 80 percent of the American graduate students we were able to recruit in the last four years in this department are alumni of the summer REU program," Amiridis said.

The summer REU program recently received NSF-renewal funding for the next five years.

The Japan REU program will place U.S. chemical engineering seniors at three institutions: Sophia University (Tokyo), Kyoto University, and Osaka University. Total funding for the program will be $300,000 per year. Van Zee and Amiridis recently visited Japan and have met with NSF representatives and Japanese professors there to lay the groundwork for the program. One of them likely will travel with the students next fall to get them settled, and the other will accompany them on the return trip to the United States at semester's end.

"This project is consistent with the research-based learning initiatives of the Honors College--these seniors will do research, come back and write theses based on their work," Amiridis said. "We believe it will enhance recruiting efforts for the Honors College and for chemical engineering. Imagine being a USC student and knowing that you might have an opportunity to do your senior research in Japan with all expenses paid."

The Japan REU is expected to cross-pollinate research methods and ideas among American students and their counterparts in the Japanese institutions. In addition to their research projects, the American students also will visit Japanese industries.

"This is more than a cultural exchange," Van Zee said. "Science and engineering are very important to the Japanese professors we visited, and our students will be exposed to some very interesting and challenging research opportunities."