Collaborative Research: Louis Stokes Regional Center of Excellence: Broadening Participation of Underrepresented Students in STEM Education Using Nanotechnology

路易斯·斯托克斯少数族裔参与联盟（LSAMP）项目帮助大学和学院实现科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）劳动力的多样化，通过努力显著增加历史上代表性不足的少数族裔（非裔美国人、西班牙裔美国人、美洲印第安人或阿拉斯加原住民）学生的数量，夏威夷原住民或其他太平洋岛民)成功完成高质量的STEM学位课程。路易斯·斯托克斯扩大参与卓越区域中心（LSRCEs）旨在作为推广、知识产生和传播活动或其他有助于STEM教育成功实践的活动的区域试验台。社会科学研究中心的活动也可集中于发展学科研究机构。诺福克州立大学、潮汐社区学院和宾夕法尼亚州立大学（主要合作伙伴）以及其他合作组织，包括美国国家航空航天局兰利研究中心（NASA-LaRC）、杰斐逊国家研究实验室应用研究中心（JLab-ARC）和东弗吉尼亚医学院（EVMS），都是更广泛的纳米科学和工程研究社区的活跃成员。将作为东南纳米技术教育参与与交流联盟（SCENE）的一部分进行合作，该联盟是路易斯·斯托克斯地区扩大参与卓越中心。SCENE利用纳米技术及其许多应用作为吸引和激励来自传统上代表性不足的少数民族的有才华的学生的渠道。通过指导和研究机会以及实践培训经验，学生将(1)将学生参与者与有成就的研究专业人员配对，以播种和激励持续的研究活动；(2)赞助以学生为中心的研究和培训活动，以实现在先进的STEM环境中为机会做好准备和竞争的学生群体；(3)利用其独特的资源和建立的协作关系，向用户交付和传播一套数字化准备的产品和服务。该计划的设计增加了广泛的暑期培训和实习组成部分，并采用积极的策略来准备和指导有才华的学生，因为他们可以在国家实验室和联邦研究机构（例如NSF GRFP和NASA研究生奖学金计划（GSFP）申请）中生成作品集和具有竞争力的研究机会。该中心将由多种机构领导，包括一所历史悠久的黑人大学、一所社区学院和一所研究机构，除了联邦和私营机构外，该研究机构还设有纳米技术教育和利用中心。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program assists universities and colleges in diversifying the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) workforce through their efforts at significantly increasing the numbers of students from historically underrepresented minority populations (African-Americans, Hispanic Americans, American Indians or Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians or Other Pacific Islanders) to successfully complete high quality degree programs in STEM. Louis Stokes Regional Centers of Excellence in Broadening Participation (LSRCEs) are designed to serve as regional testbeds for outreach, knowledge-generating and diffusion activities or other activities that contribute to successful practices in STEM education. LSRCE activities may also be concentrated in the development of disciplinary research institutes.Norfolk State University, Tidewater Community College and Pennsylvania State University (lead collaborators) and other partner organizations that include the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Langley Research Center (NASA-LaRC), Jefferson National Research Laboratory Applied Research Center (JLab-ARC), and Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS), all active members of the broader nanoscience and engineering research community, will collaborate as part of the Southeastern Coalition for Engagement and Exchange in Nanotechnology Education (SCENE), a regional Louis Stokes Center for Excellence in Broadening Participation. SCENE utilizes nanotechnology and its many applications as a conduit for engaging and inspiring talented students from traditionally underrepresented minority populations. Through guided mentoring and opportunities for research and hands-on training experiences, students will (1) pair student participants with accomplished research professionals to seed and motivate continuing research activities; (2) sponsor student-centered research and training activities to achieve cohorts of students who are prepared and competitive for opportunities in advanced STEM environments; and, (3) utilize its unique resources and established collaborative connections to deliver and disseminate a suite of digitally prepared products and services to users. The program design augments an extensive summer training and internship component, with an aggressive strategy to prepare and mentor talented students as they generate portfolios and generate competitive profiles for research opportunities at national labs and federal research agencies (e.g. NSF GRFP and NASA Graduate Student Fellowship Program (GSFP) applications). The center will be led by multiple institution types including a historically black university, a community college, and a research I institution that houses the Center for Nanotechnology Education and Utilization in addition to federal and private sector organizations.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.