Shaping Experiential Research for Veteran Education (SERVE)
Abstract
Many veterans continue to have a desire to serve and protect the Nation while the Navy and corporations are in need of leaders with research experience. The primary objective of this grant, Shaping Experiential Research for Veteran Education (SERVE) is to provide opportunities for our veterans to gain research experience and to earn graduate degrees in STEM fields to fill the pipeline for the Naval STEM workforce. There are three main areas of focus; (1) recruitment of veterans, (2) research training aligned with Navy R&D priorities, and (3) workforce placement. In this project, the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK) will expand upon the successful Veterans in Engineering program initiated at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNCC) in a new collaborative effort.To recruit students for this program, UTK and UNCC will draw from the large pool of veterans residing in Tennessee and North Carolina (1.2M total). It targets veterans already enrolled at each institution (>2300 and ~675 in STEM), veterans living in our local communities (>115,000), and separating service members from military bases in the region (~18,000 per year). Recruitment efforts will actively pursue veterans from underrepresented groups in partnership with the UTK Office of Diversity and Inclusion. Because working on research as an undergraduate increases student motivation and the likelihood of attending graduate school, paramount to the program will be research experiences provided by both universities through a strong base of existing Navy-related research. We will provide undergraduate research experiences (REUs), as well as graduate projects, and implement a student exchange program between UTK and UNCC. Research experiences will be further strengthened through interactions and input from Navy personnel and industry partners. In addition to projects at the universities, veteran students will be given opportunities to work on projects in partnership with Navy, ORNL, Y12, and a wide array defense-related industry partners.A mentoring network will be developed that will promulgate through the entire program to increase graduation rates, improve research experiences and outcomes, and develop better leaders. This approach will provide opportunities for our veteran students to be both mentors and mentees. The mentoring network will consist of former military leaders, veteran faculty members, veteran graduate students, veteran undergraduate students, and ROTC cadets.We will work closely with Navy installations and defense contractors to provide employment opportunities for the graduates of this program. We will enhance the already strong pipeline developed through UNCCs Veterans in Engineering program to forge new pipelines with NRL, Y-12, ORNL, and nearly 300 industrial partners affiliated with the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI) and the ORNL Manufacturing DemonstrationFacility (MDF). For students who wish to pursue an entrepreneurial path, we are working with the Anderson Center for Entrepreneurship and our NSF I-Corps programs to help train veteran students in starting their own companies.Finally, we will implement methods to communicate, track, and engage graduates from the program over time. Through veteran associations, a joint LinkedIn social media group, and by flagging program graduates in our alumni databases, we will have the ability to understand the impact of this program for years to come.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Jul 20, 2020
- Source ID
- N000142012668
Entities
People
- Bruce Lamattina
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy
- University of Tennessee