West Virginia University faculty members are working toward a program for graduate and undergraduate students to travel to the State Key Laboratory of Supramolecular Structure and Materials at Jilin University in China.

As science and technology change, the need for collaboration of scientists internationally will continue to grow,said James Lewis, a professor in WVU s Department ofPhysics in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences.The program will enable students to conduct international research to become more culturally diverse. Involving students in international collaborations will additionally expand their world view in this increasingly global economy and will increase their competitiveness.

The plan is for an undergraduate student to be paired with a WVU doctoral student. The team would then spend two months at Jilin University working on a collaborative research project.

Lewis and fellow WVU faculty members Boyd Edwards, Parviz Famouri, Peter Gannett, David Lederman and Michael Shi traveled to Jilin University this past academic year for a bilateral symposium,Nanoscience and Supermolecular Models.All are members of West Virginias Nanoscale Science, Engineering and Education Initiative. During the symposium, faculty from both universities gave presentations about their research.

Faculty from WVU and Jilin University, as well as scientists from Australia and South America, continue to share information regarding their research in nanoscience.