The Physics & Aerospace Catalyst Experiences in Research (PACER) Program for Minority Institutions

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). The Physics & Aerospace Catalyst Experiences in Research (PACER) project directed in response to science and engineering (S&E) workforce assessments by the National Science Board, and other U.S. institutions, that attracting and retaining students into S&E careers is of paramount importance if the U.S. is to maintain its technology lead. Further, to support a high technology economic future, today's students also need research experiences that emphasize practical skills, techniques and methodologies that are directly applicable to the development of future science and engineering projects and products. Finally, the greatest opportunity to expand the nation's pool of technical talent will likely come from efforts focused on women and minorities. PACER is a project that brings established techniques and materials to underserved students, and their mentors, in order to foster continued development of research experience programs at minority serving institutions. PACER addresses this issues by 1) providing an intensive 9-week summer research experience program for teams (faculty member plus 3 students) from minority institutions and 2) continuing to partner with each institution for multiple academic years as they establish a research experience program for their local students. In this context, the specific objectives for PACER include: 1) Attract students from the ranks of minorities and women to science and engineering programs, 2) Provide students with a research experience that builds skills, techniques and methodologies applicable throughout their science career, 3) Establish a core of expertise at multiple minority institutions around which a local sustainable student research experience program can develop, and 4) Nurture and mentor these institutions as they implement their student research experience program.