Xavier U., NYU receive $3-million NSF grant to enhance diversity among scientists

Xavier University of Louisiana and New York University have received a $3 million grant from the National Science Foundation to bolster diversity among materials scientists through collaborative research and curriculum development. The award was one of eight awarded this year under NSF's Partnerships for Research and Education in Materials (PREM) program and funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

Under its PREM grant, Xavier and the NYU Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC)—one of 31 NSF-backed centers that perform interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary materials research—will develop a materials science research core at Xavier and an undergraduate materials science educational program that will introduce a materials science track within the chemistry program at the New Orleans institution.

The research core will consist of several Xavier-NYU collaborative research projects that will enhance Xavier's research infrastructure and lead to advances in nanotechnology that affect society and the commercial sector. These include new materials for energy storage, smart magnetic assemblies for advanced medical imaging, and unique diagnostics tools for detection of cancer cells based on measurements of their mechanical properties at the nanoscale. The PREM also will employ tools that probe the nanoscale properties of crystalline materials relevant to the pharmaceutical and biomedical sectors.

Under the education component, undergraduate students will be exposed, through PREM fellowships, to research laboratories at Xavier as early as their freshman year in order to stimulate their interest in materials science. During summers, Xavier undergraduates and accompanying faculty members will conduct research as teams with NYU MRSEC research groups. NYU graduate students will be paired with these teams, integrating both undergraduate and graduate students into a common and sustainable professional network.