Category: Diversity

Why is Board Diversity Important? Part of the Amazon & GlobalMindED Diver Board Bound Series.

Building the Talent Pipeline: Hispanic/Latinx Students in STEM

We are delighted to announce this year’s NM EPSCoR Mentor Award recipients—Dr. Caitano da Silva and Dr. Jay Misra. This award is presented annually to mentors who demonstrate excellence in supporting students’ academic, research, and career endeavors, and in creating inclusive environments for all students. Please join us in recognizing Dr. da Silva and Dr. Misra for their outstanding work in mentoring the students who will define New Mexico’s diverse future workforce.

Every year the New Mexico SMART Grid Center submits three highlights from the previous project year to the National Science Foundation. This year's highlights recognize "DC Street" at NMSU, seed award results from NMT, and the Explora Science Communication Fellowship program. Below are overviews of what these outstanding project team members are working on - summarized in 250 words or less.  IT'S GOOD TO BE DIRECT Olga Lavrova, New Mexico State University

We are excited to announce the 2021 Infrastructure Seed Award program awardees and share a report from 2020 award recipient Dr. Caitano da Silva. The Infrastructure Seed Award program is designed to support transformative research and capacity building across New Mexico’s higher education institutions in emerging smart grid areas (e.g., STEM, computer science, electrical and computer engineering, cyberinfrastructure, and workforce development).

We are delighted to announce that Dr. Selena Connealy has been appointed to the position of Associate Director for the New Mexico Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (NM EPSCoR) after six months serving as Interim Associate Director following the departure of Anne Jakle in late 2020.

“The need for a robust and diverse STEM workforce has been reiterated for decades, and it is one of the current administration’s top priorities in order to maintain America’s historical preeminence in the STEM fields." - Dr. Panchanathan, NSF Director on Broadening Participation at NSF. 

What do you get when you combine topical COVID talks, ovarian cancer research, nearly 30 virtual posters in four categories, and over 250 attendees via Zoom? The 2020 New Mexico Research Symposium, hosted in collaboration with the New Mexico Academy of Science (NMAS)!  This year’s Research Symposium was held virtually November 9 to 13, 2020. The program was topical and hosted a variety of speakers, posters, and awardees honoring science, STEM, and research contributions in New Mexico. 

It’s time for me to say farewell to the New Mexico EPSCoR community and embark on new adventures. It has been a pleasure to work with you all and get to know many of you over the last five years. I hope you’ll provide a warm reception to Dr. Selena Connealy, who is the newly appointed Interim Associate Director for NM EPSCoR.

Our second NM SMART Grid Center 2020 extern, Mara Yarbrough, just completed her 10-week externship with the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department (EMNRD) researching practical policies state governments can implement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. She shared her thoughts with us on the experience in this brief reflection. Enjoy!