REU-RET Mega-Site: Research Experiences for Undergraduates and Teachers in Smart and Connected Cities

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The goal of this project, REU-RET Mega-Site: Research Experiences for Undergraduates and Teachers in Smart and Connected Cities (led by Morgan State University), is to recruit and train a diverse population of underrepresented minority students and teachers who work in minority-serving K-12 schools and community colleges - focusing on highly relevant Electrical and Computer Engineering research topics. The project involves the development of a combined Research Experiences for Undergraduates and Research Experiences for Teachers (REU-RET) Mega-Site that is centered on the following research topics that are related to Smart and Connected Cities: IoT Security, Renewable Energy, Energy Storage, Smart Grid, Human Computer Interaction, and Advanced Materials. The consortium of institutions involved in this effort are 14 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and 1 Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI). The project targets lower division students who are less likely to have the opportunity to participate in research as undergraduates. Participation in this type of experience has been demonstrated to be transformative and to have the potential to increase retention and graduation rates at these institutions. RET participants will be recruited from local community colleges and high schools that serve as feeder schools to the consortium institutions.Providing quality research experiences to an underserved group of undergraduate students and teachers will lay the foundation for positively impacting the retention and graduation of engineering students for years to come, while also increasing the number of minority students who will eventually pursue graduate degrees. In addition, the program will improve the quality of science and engineering education at local high schools and community colleges, further stimulating the interest and imagination of underrepresented minority students who might not otherwise be inclined to pursue higher education in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields. The project will serve as a national model for how to broaden participation in engineering by successfully implementing multi-institution undergraduate research programs, which others can adopt/adapt and build upon. The evaluation of this effort will be conducted by the SageFox Consulting Group and the project's outcomes will be broadly disseminated through Morgan State University's website, presentations at conferences, and articles that are published in peer-reviewed journals.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.