SUMMER RESEARCH TRAINING IN MEMBRANE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 2008 NSF REU SITE PROGRAM at the UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI
The Department of Chemical & Materials Engineering, College of Engineering is pleased to offer this research project as part of the 2008 summer NSF-REU Site Program administered by the Department of Pharmacology & Cell Biophysics.  Students interested in this project are urged to contact Professor Fried to discover more about the project, learn what your responsibilities will be during the ten-week research training program.
Project #:  08 – 006b        Faculty Supervisor/Mentor: Joel R. Fried, Ph.D., Professor, Chemical and Materials Engineering and Genome Science (GRI), College of Engineering Email: joel.fried@uc.edu
Molecular Simulation of Proton Transfer in Biological Membranes
General background and significance of the project: Proton transfer (PT) events can occur in some membrane protein structures by means of molecular wires consisting of single-file water molecules. In other systems, PT events at the entrance or exit pores of a membrane channel are required to produce neutral molecular species that can then diffuse through hydrophobic protein channels as is the case in the ammonia channel.
Brief description of proposed research and activities for the 10-week REU period: The REU student will work with a NSF IGERT student to use computational methods to investigate how PT events occur in such systems.  As an application of this work, the REU student may alternatively chose to work with a graduate student on a project funded by the American Chemical Society (Petroleum Research Fund) to use molecular dynamics and hybrid quantum chemical methods to explore the nature of PT in several phosphoric acid-based systems including polybenzimidazoles and novel acid–base complexes.
What the REU Student can gain from participating in this project: An objective is the understanding of factors that contribute to high proton conductivity for PEMs that can operate in the temperature range from 120°Ç to 200°C. Computational facilities, available through support of the Ohio Supercomputer Center, will be used in the conduct of this research project.  Significant contributions made by the REU student will result in co-authorship on conference presentations and papers, and peer-reviewed articles arising from the research.