The award from the Chemistry Division supports an Undergraduate Research Centers (URC) planning grant. The PI is Eugene B. Grimley. The planning grant will explore developing the Greater Greensboro Consortium (GGC) into an Undergraduate Research Center. The schools in GGC are University of North Carolina at Greensboro, North Carolina A&T State University, Bennett College, Elon University, High Point University, Greensboro College, Guilford College and Guilford Technical Community College. The consortium will facilitate chemistry research by sharing resources and capitalizing on existing programs. They will explore ways to share library and instrumentation resources, and develop methods for enhancing interactions leading to inter-institutional collaborations. Two exploratory projects will be undertaken: a summer research program for high school and community college students, and the development of a research bachelors degree in chemistry. The planning grant will support a pilot project starting a summer research program at four of the consortium colleges who are coupled and funded by a linked collaborative proposal: Guilford College (lead), University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Elon University and North Carolina A&T State University. Recruiting students from Early and Middle College high schools for the summer research program will enable the consortium to further expand and strengthen its relationship with the public school system.
