NSF Award
1836400
The Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) program assists universities and colleges in their efforts to significantly increase the numbers of students matriculating into and successfully completing high quality degree programs in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines in order to diversify the STEM workforce. Particular emphasis is placed on transforming undergraduate STEM education through innovative, evidence-based recruitment and retention strategies, and relevant educational experiences in support of racial and ethnic groups historically underrepresented in STEM disciplines: African Americans, Hispanic Americans, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Native Pacific Islanders. These strategies facilitate the production of well-prepared students highly-qualified and motivated to pursue graduate education or careers in STEM.<br/><br/>For the United States (U.S.) to remain globally competitive, it is vital that it taps into the talent of all its citizens and provides exceptional educational preparedness in STEM areas that underpin the knowledge-based economy. In the spirit of this endeavor, Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), a US Department of Energy (DOE) multi-discipline research laboratory proposes to pilot a 3-week "Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) SciComp Skills Building Internship Program" with the goal of enabling LSAMP students to develop scientific computing skills to integrate into their regular STEM academic activities and scientific research, thereby increasing their competitiveness and preparation for internship programs and graduate research.<br/><br/>This activity has significant societal potential for: (1) increasing the number and quality of underrepresented minority (URM) students at LSAMP institutions who are accepted for participation in advanced science internship programs across the Department of Energy (DOE) complex, (2) advancing knowledge in the STEM disciplines through the promotion of interdisciplinary research activity, and (3) contributing to a more globally competitive STEM workforce who can adeptly wield the power of computing to advance scientific discovery. The intent is to inspire students to pursue a career in the exciting field of scientific computing and/or apply scientific computing to other fields of scientific discovery. Furthermore, the integration of LSAMP program participants and their administrators will strengthen the relationship between the NSF LSAMP program and the DOE research enterprise to increase URM employment at national laboratories and as users of their world-class facilities.<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.
