Last fall, the U.S. National Science Foundation Research Traineeship (NRT) program announced 25 new awards, marking 10 years of preparing today's graduate students for tomorrow's STEM careers. The $75 million investment spans 16 states, five Hispanic-serving institutions and three historically Black universities to provide diverse trainees with the knowledge and leadership skills needed to work across disciplines and identify solutions to society's most critical challenges.
NRT advances research by training graduate students in interdisciplinary or convergent research areas through a comprehensive traineeship model that is innovative, evidence-based and aligned with evolving workforce and research needs. But across these programs, there's also a deep commitment to drawing on the power of mentoring, not only to provide technical training but to fully empower STEM graduate students to become leaders and innovators.
The program emphasizes a holistic mentoring model, including academic guidance, career counseling and skill-building for interdisciplinary collaboration. NRT mentors, typically faculty members and researchers, work closely with students to foster their growth as independent researchers while also helping them navigate the complexities of academia, industry and other STEM-related career paths. This newest class of NRT awardees is demonstrating the power of mentoring, right from the very beginning.
Featured NRTs:
University of Arizona: Climate change Adaptation and Mitigation through Biodiversity Informatics edUcation and Mentoring
The newest NRT program at the University of Arizona has set out to "empower students to tackle the interconnected impacts of climate change on biodiversity, health and well-being." Led by principal investigator Michael Barker, this innovative graduate training program in biodiversity informatics will provide trainees with the opportunity to explore deep connections between biodiversity loss, climate change and societal health, and to draw on cutting-edge skills in Big Data to test and scale powerful solutions. Mentoring is a critical strategy in providing these opportunities: Trainees will work with mentors to "learn to analyze and integrate large-scale biodiversity, economic, health and environmental data to predict the impacts of climate change, extreme weather events, biodiversity loss and conservation efforts."
University of New Mexico: Reliable and Responsive AI for Autonomous Systems Engineering
As the use of artificial intelligence across technology continues to expand, so do concerns about its ethical use — particularly in autonomous systems like driverless transportation and robotics. Professor Meeko Oishi, the lead principal investigator of a new NRT program at the University of New Mexico, is launching a graduate certificate focused on the critical intersection of AI and autonomy. As she said, "We are interested in developing theories, methods and algorithms in AI for autonomous systems that can help provide assurances about reliability as well as responsiveness to the human in the loop." While examining four key research areas — defense autonomy, algorithmic fairness, multi-agent and intelligent systems and extreme-scale computing — the program will ensure trainees have access to hands-on support and mentoring from faculty members and industry partners to deepen their experience and learning.
Cornell University: AI for Sustainability Sciences and Engineering (AISSE)
Leveraging the power of AI to address environmental, energy and food system challenges is a critical area of scientific research. At Cornell, a new NRT program, AISSE, will integrate advanced AI tools with sustainability research across the campus to address grave environmental challenges. Trainees will explore AI applications in sustainable materials, decarbonization of energy systems, climate-smart digital agriculture and the global energy-food-climate nexus as part of Cornell's AI for Sustainability initiative. Driven by principal investigator Fengqi You, the trainees' experience will be enriched by harmonized courses, cross-field lab rotations and joint mentorships that promote interdisciplinary research training in addition to hands-on experience. You, who co-directs the Cornell Institute for Digital Agriculture and Cornell University AI for Science Institute, states, "This program merges cutting-edge AI research and sustainability science to address some of the most pressing global challenges."