UROP Research Mentor Project Submission Portal: Submission #1056

Submission information
Submission Number: 1056
Submission ID: 19876
Submission UUID: 81d3ad51-ad87-4e29-bdf5-d5428d9357c3

Created: Thu, 07/24/2025 - 10:12 AM
Completed: Thu, 07/24/2025 - 10:12 AM
Changed: Mon, 08/25/2025 - 01:53 PM

Remote IP address: 73.129.212.28
Submitted by: Anonymous
Language: English

Is draft: No
Primary Research Mentor Name Yimin Mao
Research Mentor Preferred Pronouns Prof.
When potential research assistants are reaching out via email, what is your preferred honorific?
Contact Email (FSU Email if affiliated) yimin.mao@eng.famu.fsu.edu
Position Title Faculty
FSU College (if applicable) FAMU-FSU College of Engineering
FSU Department or Non-FSU Organization Affiliation Chemical and Biomedical Engineering
Headshot (optional)
Research Assistant Supervisor (if different from above)
Research Assistant Supervisor Preferred Pronouns
Research Assistant Supervisor Preferred Honorific?
Contact Email (FSU Email if affiliated)
Name of Other Faculty/Collaborator(s) (if applicable)
Other Faculty/Collaborator(s) Preferred Pronouns
Other Faculty/Collaborator(s) Preferred Honorific?
Contact Email (FSU Email if affiliated)
Title of the Project Understanding microstructures of fibrous materials via advanced data analysis
Project Keywords Fiber; fibrous materials; diffraction; computer simulation
Are you currently looking for research assistants? Yes
Number of Research Assistants Needed 2
Relevant Research Assistant Major(s) Computer science; computer engineering; scientific computing
Project Location: FAMU-FSU College of Engineering
If the project location is off campus, does the research assistant(s) need to provide their own transportation? No, the project is remote
Please select the choice that most accurately describes your expectations for the research assistant(s): Fully Remote
Approximately how many hours a week would the research assistant(s) need to work? 6
Roughly what time frame do you expect research assistant(s) to work? Flexible schedule (Combination of business and outside of business. TBD between student and research mentor.)
Overall Research Project Description Fibrous materials are ubiquitous in our daily life as well as playing a critical role in scientific discoveries. Clothes, ropes, fish lines, to list but a few, are made of fibrous materials. Of biological relevance muscles, hair, collagen are all fibrous materials. The fundamental units of fibrous materials are often polymers that can be imagined as a string of small molecules connected by covalent bonds; and the microstructures determine their properties, e.g., their mechanical strength, optical behavior, etc. Diffraction is a powerful tool for resolving these microstructures: by shining an X-ray or neutron beam on a piece of fiber, packing of atoms can be resolved by analyzing its diffraction pattern (the tiny fiber can diffract X-ray or neutron, and the diffracted waves are registered by a 2D detector, forming a diffraction pattern). One of the most influential breakthroughs in science history, the determination of the famous double helix structure of DNA, is based on this principle.

The goal of this proposed project is to develop a user-friendly toolkit for the analysis of 2D diffraction data of fibrous materials. Although the theory of data analysis has matured, currently there is no efficient, easy-to-use, graphic user interface (GUI)-based software for the community: scientists rely on home-brewed codes that are often outdated and cannot take advantage of modern computation power. Inclusion of expertise in computer science (or engineering), and driven by the need for high-speed data reduction and analysis, this project is an ideal one of interdisciplinary nature. In the long term, we hope to promote research collaboration between computer scientists/engineers and materials scientists, chemical/biological engineers, chemists and physicists, etc.

We will use data collected at major national laboratories hosting neutron sources (Oak Ridge National Lab (ORNL) or National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)) and synchrotron X-ray sources (e.g., Argonne National Lab (ANL) or Brookhaven National Lab (BNL)). In particular, since FSU is one of the even partner universities of ORNL, the recruited students will be promoted to interact with ORNL scientists, and use their knowledge to solve real-world scientific and engineering problems.
Research Tasks Programming for data analysis
Skills that research assistant(s) may need: Required: C++ programming.

Recommended: GUI development.
Mentoring Philosophy A) Task Modularization. Mentor and the student will discuss to understand the nature of the problem and divide a "big" problem into small pieces each manageable and with foreseeable boundary, allowing the student to see progress throughout the project. Students will feel achieved during the course and will have a presentable package when wrapping up the project.

B) Project management plasticity. Apart from set objectives mentor will leave rooms for students to explore their own ideas. Mentor will assess the efforts and feasibility, and control the pace, so that the students may be trained to appreciate good taste as well as rigorous methodology of research.
Please provide a link to your publications, a video clip, or a website for your research project (if applicable): https://eng.famu.fsu.edu/cbe/people/mao
Please add any additional information here (if applicable): The project is crafted not to fulfill a rigid goal, but with the hope that the students can develop good research habits and are willing to engage interdisciplinary collaborations, so that follow-up research may be conducted in the long run, using modern ideas of computer science to solve the real world problems during their career development.

Prospective students are encouraged to email mentor to inquire or discuss.
Are you interested in participating in the UROP Research Mentor Roundtable? No
Roundtable times and Zoom links
Mentor Handbook, FAQs, and Communication Yes
UROP Performance Evaluation Yes
Materials Grant Yes
UROP Poster Presentation Yes
Year 2025
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