PREM: A National Science Foundation Effort to Increase STEM Participation

The scientific workforce of the future is compromised by non-representative demographics relative to the general population.  Economic growth and new technology critically depends on increasing participation of under-represented groups in STEM.  The lecture will present an overview of efforts at Texas State University to increase participation in STEM – an effort sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF).  In 2004, NSF’s Division of Materials Research created a new program called Partnerships in Research and Education of Materials (PREM) to address this specific demographic issue in science training.  In 2012, Texas State University was one of 6 awards for new PREM Centers.  This PREM is a collaborative effort with the Research Triangle Materials Research Science and Engineering Center based at Duke, NC State, University of North Carolina and NC Central.  This talk will broadly discuss the PREM and the specific activities of the Texas State Center on Interfaces in Materials.