NERO: Nanoscience Education and Research Outreach

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This award provides funding for a 3 year continuing award to support a Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) Site program at Louisiana Tech University entitled, "NERO: Nanoscience Education and Research Outreach," under the direction of Dr. David Mills. The NERO program will link Louisiana Tech University engineers and scientists in the School of Biological Sciences, the Biomedical Engineering Program, and the Institute for Micromanufacturing with rural school systems in Louisiana, southern Arkansas and eastern Texas. The objectives of the program are to:1) engage middle and high school teachers and their students in conducting research through internships and summer research experiences/technology workshops with follow-up through academic year programs, 2) provide guidance for teachers as they develop materials to translate their increased understanding of the research process into classroom learning experiences, 3) build lasting relationships among teachers, researchers, K-12 students, and graduate students, 4) improve communication of science and engineering and the scientific research process to teachers, students and the community, and 4) increase interest of K-12 students in pursuing STEM careers. Co-funding is being provided by the NSF EPSCoR Program.