One of the goals of the Louisiana Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (LA-EPSCoR) project, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), is to increase the participation of women and other underrepresented minorities in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fields.
The LA EPSCoR Supervised Undergraduate Research Experiences (SURE) program seeks to further this goal by fostering opportunities for such students who conduct supervised research under the mentorship of a faculty member in areas directly related to materials and advanced manufacturing themes. Priority will be given to research topics relevant to the two LAMDA Science Driver areas described in Section A.1, as well as emerging areas of data-driven materials science and machine learning with applications to manufacturing. Other topics relevant for advanced manufacturing are also acceptable. Students will have the opportunity to become engaged in a professional researcher’s work, to learn how he or she formulates a hypothesis, develops a plan to investigate it, obtains research funding and other resources, gathers and examines evidence, encounters obstacles, and evaluates and shares results with the scientific community. By participating in research, students have the chance to learn more about the advanced manufacturing field of study and can use the experience to help them decide whether or not to pursue further education by attending graduate school.
Click here to review the full RFA or to apply.