GEM Underrepresented Minority Internships for Chemists, Chemical and Environmental Engineers,and Physicists

The National Gem Consortium, Alexandria VA

Investigators

Abstract

Promoting progress in science and building a globally competitive workforce, a core part of the National Science Foundation's mission, requires increasing diversity in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). This project is supported by the Divisions of Chemistry and Physics in the Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorate, and the Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems in the Engineering Directorate. The GEM Consortium aims to improve diversity in the STEM workforce through a two-pronged approach. First, GEM encourages selected underrepresented minority (URM) students to pursue graduate degrees in STEM fields by ensuring that the students receive a living stipend and tuition while enrolled in a GEM member-university program. Next, GEM provides access to paid internships for the selected students, providing the students with work experience and networking opportunities. Ultimately this project works to illustrate and provide pathways for advanced STEM education and careers for URM students. This project provides training pathways for both Ph.D. and Master's level students in STEM fields, particularly in Chemistry, Chemical and Environmental Engineering, and Physics. GEM consortium-selected URM students apply to the university-member programs, and upon acceptance, GEM provides a stipend towards living expenses and tuition. The universities cover the remainder of the tuition, and in the case of Ph.D. level students, a living stipend (through teaching or research assistantships or other methods) for the duration of the degree. This encourages member universities to accept URM students, while assuring students of the economic feasibility of an advanced degree. Students also participate in a paid internship that GEM helps to arrange, which enables students to build a career network and provides them with work experience. 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.