Technical Assistance Workshops to Broaden Participation in the National Science Foundation's Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) Program

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The Quality Education for Minorities (QEM) Network has received support from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to offer a proposal development workshop for 50 Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) faculty from Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) who intend to submit proposals to the NSF's Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) Program. The project's overall goal is to increase the number of MRI awards to MSIs. Intellectual Merit: Achieving the project's overall goal will provide STEM faculty at MSIs with state-of-the art instrumentation with which to conduct research that will lead to new knowledge and applications. As a result, this group of grantees can increase their scholarly productivity; integrate their research findings into the courses they teach; and provide their students with hands-on experiences using the acquired or developed instrumentation. Broader Impacts: Increasing the participation of MSIs in the MRI Program will enrich the education program and research opportunities at institutions that play a major role in the production of minority STEM baccalaureate degree recipients and that disproportionately produce minority graduates who earn STEM doctoral degrees. MRI-supported instrumentation at these institutions will improve students' access to a high quality STEM education provided by faculty actively engaged in research and will better prepare them to successfully pursue STEM graduate degrees or join the Nation's STEM workforce. Instrumentation, obtained through MRI awards, will significantly enhance STEM education at these institutions through expanded undergraduate and graduate research opportunities and increased faculty scholarly productivity.