UCSD-CSULB Doctoral Diversity Initiative (DDI) program offers excellent opportunities for undergraduate students from California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) to gain research experience and for Ph.D. students/postdocs from UC San Diego (UCSD) to explore academic careers at primarily undergraduate institutions. This partnership aims to enhance the field of materials science by providing training opportunities for both partners in the initiative. For more information, please visit CSULB webpage and/or contact ddi@csulb.edu.
The vision of the PREM is to conduct innovative research in the field of advanced materials and expand the materials research activities of the UC San Diego MRSEC by partnering with the faculty, students and postdoctoral fellows at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (NCA&T). Research is being carried out under three Research Thrust Areas: two-dimensional (2D) materials and heterostructures (Thrust 1), Plasmonic materials (Thrust 2), and Predictive assembly of biomaterials (Thrust 3). The Education, Outreach, and student Recruitment, Retention, and Degree Attainment (R2DA) activities will go hand-in-hand with the three research thrusts.
This partnership between North Carolina Agriculture & Technology (NCAT) and UC San Diego seeks to address the sparsity of underrepresented minority (URM) students in Materials Science & Engineering (MSE) PhD programs and enhance the diversity of students entering and completing PhD programs in MSE, foster inclusive academic environments, and strengthen the pipeline for diverse talent in materials science and engineering. There is also an overarching objective to establish a continued collaboration between NCAT and UC San Diego to engage Black/African-American and other URM undergraduate students from NCAT in various UC San Diego PhD programs with a focus on MSE and related departments.