{"id":147853,"date":"2021-09-14T09:41:54","date_gmt":"2021-09-14T19:41:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=147853"},"modified":"2021-09-14T09:41:54","modified_gmt":"2021-09-14T19:41:54","slug":"800k-boosts-minority-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2021\/09\/14\/800k-boosts-minority-students\/","title":{"rendered":"$800K boosts minority students in materials science, engineering"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
\"students
Students and Kenta Ohtaki at the Focused Ion Beam instrument in HIGP<\/abbr>. (Photo credit: Warren McKenzie)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

To increase diversity in cutting-edge materials research, education and professions, collaborating University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at Mānoa and University of Washington (UW<\/abbr>) researchers were awarded $800,000 from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF<\/abbr>)<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This seed award from the NSF<\/abbr>\u2019s Partnerships for Research and Education in Materials (PREM<\/abbr>) will support materials research partnerships between minority-serving institutions and large-scale, NSF<\/abbr>-supported research centers and facilities.<\/p>\n

“The anticipated outcome of this seed PREM<\/abbr> is the sprouting of a strong interdisciplinary UH<\/abbr>–UW<\/abbr> collaboration centered around diverse student participants performing research at the frontiers to solve some of the world\u2019s greatest materials research challenges, with the aim of successfully re-applying for a full PREM<\/abbr> in the next round of proposals,” said Godwin Severa<\/strong>, principle investigator of the new grant and assistant researcher at the Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Natural Energy Institute<\/a> (HNEI<\/abbr>)in UH<\/abbr> Mānoa\u2019s School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Materials Research and Education Consortium is composed of seven UH<\/abbr> faculty from HNEI<\/abbr>, the Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Institute of Geophysics and Planetology<\/a> and the Colleges of Engineering<\/a> and Social Sciences<\/a>, as well as 10 faculty from UW<\/abbr> Molecular Engineering Materials Center, an NSF<\/abbr> Materials Research Science and Engineering Center.<\/p>\n

Increasing underrepresented groups in materials science<\/h2>\n

PREM<\/abbr> is intended to enhance and solidify a pathway for young researchers from underrepresented groups to enter the vibrant field of materials science and engineering.<\/p>\n

Research activities of this new project maximize the complementary expertise and resources at both institutions while emphasizing the education and training of a diverse next generation of scientists and engineers. The research is focused on developing foundational knowledge about advanced nano-to-macroscale materials and properties controlling their unique behaviors, and investigating their use for future energy and space technologies.<\/p>\n

The consortium\u2019s PREM<\/abbr> framework elements will include strong student dual-mentoring, including individualized professional development plans; annual student\/faculty summer research exchanges; and joint research seminars and annual student symposia. The PREM<\/abbr> pathway will increase the participation of underrepresented groups in materials science, especially Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders and women.<\/p>\n

“Our long-term goal is to develop lasting research partnerships incorporating diversified student trainees, while offering first rate undergraduate and graduate degree programs in materials science at UH<\/abbr>,” said Severa.<\/p>\n

This program is an example of UH<\/abbr> Mānoa\u2019s goal of Enhancing Student Success<\/a> (PDF<\/abbr><\/span>) and Excellence in Research: Advancing the Research and Creative Work Enterprise<\/a> (PDF<\/abbr><\/span>), one of four goals identified in the 2015–25 Â鶹´«Ã½<\/a> (PDF<\/abbr><\/span>), updated in December 2020.<\/p>\n

For more information, see SOEST<\/abbr>\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

–By Marcie Grabowski<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The award will support materials research partnerships between minority-serving institutions and large-scale, NSF<\/abbr>-supported research centers and facilities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[142,179,301,182,170,294,1466,1363,92,9],"class_list":["post-147853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research","tag-award","tag-college-of-engineering","tag-college-of-social-sciences","tag-engineering","tag-hawaii-institute-of-geophysics-and-planetology","tag-hawaii-natural-energy-institute","tag-manoa-enhancing-student-success","tag-manoa-research","tag-school-of-ocean-and-earth-science-and-technology","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147853"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147853\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":147952,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147853\/revisions\/147952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}