NSF Award
2414428
The Electronic Materials Conference (EMC) is a premier annual forum for the presentation and dissemination of research focused on the preparation, growth, characterization, and use of electronic materials. EMC talks, a majority of which are given by students, present cutting-edge research in a wide range of fields, including solar energy materials, metamaterials and plasmonics, quantum structures, electrical and optical characterization techniques, wide bandgap and narrow bandgap materials, nanocomposites, 2D materials, and many others. The design, growth and synthesis, development, and characterization of electronic materials are central to a wide range of scientific fields, from quantum sensing, communication, and computation to renewable energy, optical communication and sensing, data storage, power systems, and nano-electronics. EMC provides a unique opportunity for researchers from academia, government labs, and industry to meet and share the latest cutting-edge results across these broad range of fields. While currently drawing from a broad range of disciplines and institutions, EMC is looking to broaden participation of scientists and engineers from minority serving institutions (MSIs), including historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). This proposal aims to broaden participation in the Electronic Materials Conference by forging close, sustainable ties with MSIs, through the NSF Partnerships for Research and Education in Materials (PREM) program, in order to build a more diverse EMC.<br/><br/>The project is designed to broaden participation in EMC by building a sustainable relationship between EMC and PREM, as well as electronic materials research groups at MSIs. The proposed effort will: (i) increase the breadth of research presented at EMC, providing opportunities for dissemination of research results from MSIs at an impactful forum for electronic materials research, (ii) offer opportunities for networking and the building of collaborative research efforts between MSI researchers and EMC attendees, fostering new research efforts and directions, and (iii) strengthen the EMC by broadening participation in the elected EMC organizing committee and pool of invited organizers. The proposed effort will focus on bringing researchers from MSIs into the EMC fold, both as attendees and presenters, but also as invited organizers and members of the organizing committee. There will also be a focus on reaching out to undergraduate researchers at MSIs, in order to expose these students to a broad range of cutting-edge materials research, inspire these students to continue their education at the graduate level, and thus strengthen the STEM pipeline for under-represented populations. The program will reimburse EMC registration fees for attendees and participants from MSIs and PREM institutions and will look to support travel and lodging expenses for ‘teams’ of EMC attendees from these institutions. Success will be measured by tracking attendance and participation by MSI and PREM attendees, as well as with a post-conference survey to determine adjustments to EMC that will further help to broaden participation.<br/><br/>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.
