Defense Pathways for Research Opportunities for Minorities Underrepresented in STEM (Defense PROMUS)
Abstract
The Defense PROMUS project has three objectives: (1) Enhance basic research opportunities for students related to areas critical to the national security functions of the DoD; (2) Create pathways to enhance interest and participation in research by leveraging current ecosystem; and (3) Increase the number of graduates, including underrepresented minorities, in STEM. Impact of the project will be measured for three groups of students, undergraduate and graduate students conducting defense related research in a premier research lab, current undergraduate engineering students, and also K-12 students. In each of the four years of the project, two teaching assistant positions funded by the Department of Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M University will be utilized. These positions will specifically support two masters or PhD students from populations underrepresented in engineering, underrepresented populations (URPs), each year of the project for a total of eight graduate URP students over the course of the project. In addition, numerous undergraduate students will conduct research related to areas critical to the national security functions of the DoD. Each of the students will conduct research in one of three labs: National Aerothermochemistry and Hypersonics Laboratory, the Detonation Physics Laboratory, or the Novel Unconventional Aerospace Applications iN Core Educational Disciplines Laboratory with access to the foremost leading research facilities and top researchers in the country. During this time, these graduate students will also gain teaching experience and enhance communication skills by conducting outreach to middle and high schools, working with undergraduate student researchers in the lab, providing hands-on research experiences for engineering first-year students visiting campus during engagement events from the Engineering Academies, and presenting their research at conferences, such as Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, National Society of Black Engineers, Society of Women Engineers, and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. In subsequent years, the graduate students will be funded by the PIs in the lab to continue their research in areas critical to the national security functions of the DoD. Broader Impacts: Support of the proposed work would directly involve minority candidates in each of the described projects. Active involvement of minority candidates in research at the undergraduate and graduate levels have been shown to directly increase engagement and retention of those candidates in their subject area of research [SIJ7]. Such engagement allows students to develop the networking connections, communication expertise, technical background, and professional experience to envision themselves remaining in the field. Retaining such candidates is a self-reinforcing effect; their visibility is further increased when retained as faculty and staff scientists and can serve as role models for future minority candidates. Intellectual Merit: Texas A&M University is an internationally recognized leader in Aerospace Engineering and the field of high-speed fluid mechanics and gas dynamics. The Aerospace Engineering faculty involved in this proposal actively perform cutting-edge research for the Department of Defense, Department of Energy and other relevant corporate sponsors. Such work is of high scholarly merit and actively disseminated to relevant research communities as evidenced by their high output in conferences and journals in their field. Student researchers working with these faculty will thus be involved in projects with topics of direct relevance to DoD interests and mentored by faculty with a significant history of producing work of strong intellectual merit.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- May 13, 2023
- Source ID
- W911NF2310154
Entities
People
- Kristi Shryock
Organizations
- Army Contracting Command
- Office of the Secretary of Defense
- Texas A&M University