Congratulations to the NC State Materials Research Society (MRS) university chapter for winning a 2018 MRS University Chapter Special Projects Award from the MRS Foundation! The NC State team was one of five MRS university chapters from around the world selected for this honor. This grant is designed to support chapters who propose unique project ideas that align with the overall vision of the MRS Foundation. The chapter was awarded these funds in order to carry out their proposal for STEM outreach in North Carolina. The grant proposal, “Materials Research for Economic Mobility,” will focus on outreach to lower income students in rural cities.
The overall goal of the proposed program is to not only interest youth in the exciting field of materials research, but also show them that economic mobility is possible through STEM education, regardless of their socioeconomic background. The outreach will involve sending a team of volunteers to various schools to demonstrate interesting scientific experiments and present information on funding sources that could enable them to pursue a STEM degree. The grant proposal was prepared and submitted by the university chapter executive officers: President – Peter Feldtmann (graduate student, MSE), Vice President – James Mitchell (graduate student, MSE), Secretary – Dennis Szymanski (graduate student, MSE), and Treasurer – Daniel Yonemoto (graduate student, Chem). For more information, including those interested in volunteering for the outreach project, please contact James Mitchell (jbmitch4@ncsu.edu).