At a time when the U.S. economy is facing enormous challenges, creating jobs that will develop significant technological and scientific innovation and create new opportunities for business growth is of the utmost importance for future economic recovery. Given the challenges that the country faces today, there is an urgent need to transform the economy through advances in science and technology and through the job creation that accompanies them.
Critical to this recovery effort is the nurturing of emerging high-quality, innovative research-performing small businesses. Such start-up companies have been major contributors to job creation in past recessionary periods, and those companies tend to remain robust in even the most severe economic downturns. These nimble corporate ventures, relying on cutting-edge technology, represent an unparalleled opportunity to invest in America?s invention, innovation and economic growth today, tomorrow, and for years to come.
With that in mind, the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) has established the Small Business Postdoctoral Research Diversity Program that will place 50 recent Ph.D. recipients with a goal of at least one third being from the underrepresented groups defined as women, persons with disabilities, African Americans, Hispanics, American Indians, Alaska Natives and Pacific Islanders in active Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) participating companies, as identified by the National Science Foundation. Those are the only companies that will be eligible for this program.
The ASEE/NSF Small Business Postdoctoral Research Diversity Fellowship Program will encourage creative and highly trained recipients of doctoral degrees in disciplines funded by the NSF, to engage in hands-on research projects in their areas of expertise at the kind of small innovative businesses that historically have fueled the nation?s economic engine. This fellowship program would offer those small, competitive companies the opportunity to attract top scientific and technological talent at a fraction of the usual cost. At the same time, it will recruit postdoctoral fellows from the underrepresented groups to work for at least a year outside an academic setting, contributing to cutting-edge research aimed at promoting scientific excellence and strengthening our nation?s technological prowess.
