What is the program?
The Magnetic Momentum Scholars Program is a partnership between the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (MagLab) and Florida A&M University (FAMU), the third largest Historically Black University in the United States and the only public Historically Black University in Florida. Pairing FAMU undergraduate students with MagLab STEM mentors for a six-week / twenty-hour-per-week rotational internship, the students developed important lab skills including laboratory instrumentation, techniques, and programming, as well as materials synthesis, computer modeling, data analysis, and machine learning.
Why is this important?
African American/Black, Latina/o/x and Indigenous peoples are underrepresented in STEM fields compared to their overall representation in the U.S. population. Through the Magnetic Momentum Program, the MagLab exposes a select group of undergraduate students to STEM career opportunities about which many were previously unaware, enabling them to build confidence in their own ability to pursue a future STEM career.
Who was involved?
K. W. Johnson1
1Center for Integrating Research and Learning (CIRL) at the MagLab, 2Florida A&M University (FAMU)
Why did they need the MagLab?
The MagLab is located in close proximity to FAMU. The MagLab's CIRL group conceived of the Magnetic Momentum Program and connected the FAMU students with a diverse group of MagLab scientists and engineers skilled in mentoring, thus advancing the MagLab’s mission of broadening participation and building a diverse STEM workforce.
Funding
This research was funded by the following grants: G.S. Boebinger (NSF DMR-1644779)
For more information, contact Kawana Johnson.
