- Graduate program from DOE prepares students for STEM careers
As part of a U.S. Department of Energy graduate-student program, 52 students from 43 different universities will be sponsored to conduct research at 12 national laboratories. Seven of them will come to Los Alamos National Laboratory for their research experience for between three and 12 months.
“These graduate student awards help prepare new scientists for STEM careers that are vitally important to the DOE mission and the nation’s economy,” Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette said. “We are proud of the accomplishments of these outstanding awardees and look forward to seeing what they achieve in the years to come. They represent the future leadership and innovation that will allow American science and engineering to excel in the 21st century.”
“The DOE SC Graduate Student Research program has a LANL track record of providing top tier doctoral students who end up making meaningful contributions to both the mission of the laboratory and their selected fields of scientific study,” said Scott Robbins, Student Programs manager at Los Alamos. “The graduate student researchers are highly valued by laboratory managers and mentors and many end up entering the DOE scientific enterprise as postdoctoral appointees and staff scientists.”
The goal of the Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR) program is to prepare graduate students for science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) careers critically important to the DOE Office of Science mission, by providing graduate thesis research opportunities through extended residency at DOE laboratories.
Students working with Los Alamos scientists, their universities and their subject areas include:
- Alexandre Frederick Mills, University of New Mexico Main Campus, Experimental Research in High Energy Physics
- Clay Barton, University of South Dakota, Low Energy Nuclear Physics
- Douglas Kim-Tak Wong, Indiana University Bloomington, Low Energy Nuclear Physics
- Jared Brewington, University of Kentucky, Low Energy Nuclear Physics
- Luis Martinez, University of Texas at El Paso, Ultrafast Materials and Chemical Sciences
- Luke Mitchell McClintock, University of California-Davis, Ultrafast Materials and Chemical Sciences
- Reid Longley, Michigan State University, Plant Science for Sustainable Bioenergy
The research projects proposed by the new awardees demonstrate strong alignment with the priority mission areas of DOE Office of Science that have a high need for workforce development. The DOE SCGSR program plays an important role in sustaining a pipeline for highly skilled scientific and technological workforce development through providing new graduate research opportunities at DOE national laboratories.
The SCGSR program is sponsored and managed by the DOE Office of Science’s Office of Workforce Development for Teachers and Scientists (WDTS), in collaboration with the six Office of Science research programs and the DOE national laboratories/facilities.
