The award from the Chemistry Division supports an Undergraduate Research Centers (URC) planning grant. The PI is Christa Hockensmith assisted by co-PI, G. M. Bond. The planning grant will develop an undergraduate research program that links undergraduate schools including associate degree-granting institutions with larger graduate degree granting institutions. Initial partners will be four-year institutions, two-year colleges, high school personnel, national laboratories located in New Mexico, and other partners including Native American tribes and professional societies. The student participants will be drawn from first generation college students and two-year college students, and will serve the large Hispanic and Native American populations in New Mexico and the southwest. The planning exercise will be the development of the partnerships that will provide the foundation of the URC and planning workshops of two types: partner workshops and mentor workshops.
