9612589 Absher Absher is Program Director of the NSF Engineering Research Center (ERC) for Emerging Cardiovascular Technologies and has directed and administered educational and outreach programs involving graduate, undergraduate, high school, and grade school students, including programs focusing on minorities, women, and persons with disabilities. Absher s accomplishments include: I. Excellent mentoring of students with disabilities; II. Honors for work with hearing impaired students; III. Providing quality research experience in the labs and developing mentoring relationships with students from six universities, including five Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs); and IV. Impressive student outcomes -- of the 64 ERC fellowships awarded in the outreach program, 42 fellows have completed undergraduate degrees and 63% of them are in graduate school in SME fields, 29% are in industry, 4% in medical school, and 4% are teaching. Of those 42, 19 were disabled, and no such other opportunities existed for them.
