• Skip to main content
  • Skip to after header navigation
  • Skip to site footer
ERN: Emerging Researchers National Conference in STEM

ERN: Emerging Researchers National Conference in STEM

  • About
    • About AAAS
    • About the NSF
    • About the Conference
    • Partners/Supporters
    • Project Team
  • Conference
  • Abstracts
    • Undergraduate Abstract Locator
    • Graduate Abstract Locator
    • Abstract Submission Process
    • Presentation Schedules
    • Abstract Submission Guidelines
    • Presentation Guidelines
  • Travel Awards
  • Resources
    • Award Winners
    • Code of Conduct-AAAS Meetings
    • Code of Conduct-ERN Conference
    • Conference Agenda
    • Conference Materials
    • Conference Program Books
    • ERN Photo Galleries
    • Events | Opportunities
    • Exhibitor Info
    • HBCU-UP/CREST PI/PD Meeting
    • In the News
    • NSF Harassment Policy
    • Plenary Session Videos
    • Professional Development
    • Science Careers Handbook
    • Additional Resources
    • Archives
  • Engage
    • Webinars
    • ERN 10-Year Anniversary Videos
    • Plenary Session Videos
  • Contact Us
  • Login

UPRM-CREST: 10 Years of Broader Impact Across the Academic Echelon

Faculty #89
Discipline: Social, Behavioral & Economic Sciences
Subcategory: STEM Science and Mathematics Education

Agnes Padovani - University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez
Co-Author(s): Jaquelina E. Alvarez, Cristina Pomales, O. Marcelo Suárez, Myriam D. Padilla, and Adelaida Rivera University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez



Established in 2008 at the University of Puerto Rico – Mayagüez (UPRM), the Nanotechnology Center Phase I focused on in-depth training of students from public schools and undergraduate and graduate students (UGS). Originally engaging two high schools, after 10 years, the Center’s Phase II Interdisciplinary Education Group (IEG) maintains 15 Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) Clubs in middle and high schools in Western Puerto Rico. This strategy is at the core of the Center’s social impact, as many of their 500 student members represent economically-disadvantaged households. Mentored by a teacher, affiliated to and trained by the Center, each MSE Club provides an enriching venue through planned hands-on interventions by the IEG and carried out by the Center’s UGS. The MSE Clubs’ Annual Meeting, held at UPRM’s Coliseum, serves as an entertaining activity, where the participants learn by building large-scale scientific models using air balloons to demonstrate complex functionalities of nanostructured materials studied in the Center’s three research groups. Meanwhile, these groups have been solidly productive and trained more than a hundred UGS, including former MSE Club members, who nowadays pertain to the STEM and Nanotechnology workforce. In the last 3 years these efforts have helped established three engineering doctoral programs, and a master’s one in Materials Science and Engineering at the host institution.

Funder Acknowledgement(s): This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grants HRD 0833112 & 1345156 (CREST program).

Faculty Advisor: None Listed,

Sidebar

Abstract Locators

  • Undergraduate Abstract Locator
  • Graduate Abstract Locator

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under Grant No. DUE-1930047. Any opinions, findings, interpretations, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of its authors and do not represent the views of the AAAS Board of Directors, the Council of AAAS, AAAS’ membership or the National Science Foundation.

AAAS

1200 New York Ave, NW
Washington,DC 20005
202-326-6400
Contact Us
About Us

  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

The World’s Largest General Scientific Society

Useful Links

  • Membership
  • Careers at AAAS
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use

Focus Areas

  • Science Education
  • Science Diplomacy
  • Public Engagement
  • Careers in STEM

Focus Areas

  • Shaping Science Policy
  • Advocacy for Evidence
  • R&D Budget Analysis
  • Human Rights, Ethics & Law

© 2023 American Association for the Advancement of Science