The STEM Advancement Program (STEMAP) engages students from New Mexico’s regional universities, community colleges, and tribal colleges in the research funded by the New Mexico SMART Grid Center at UNM, NMSU, and NMT. Up to 12 students are selected to participate each summer; benefits include a $4,000 stipend, housing, and meal allowance. Academic year opportunities include support to present at state, regional, and national conferences, a webinar series, and continued research activities back at your home campus with a faculty mentor.

STEMAP 2023 Program:

• Utilize current SMART Grid faculty and students to understand key concepts such as time series processing, adversarial machine learning attacks, and blockchain technology
• Learn Python, GitHub, and Version Control for data compilation, analysis, exploration, and algorithmic function creation
• Participate in science communication workshops focused on building skills to effectively engage public audiences, non-scientists, and professional colleagues
• Participate in professional development workshops addressing research presentation skills and ethics
• Attend weekly SMART Grid related webinars on various topics
• Participate in the majority of STEMAP 2023 from your home 
• Have the opportunity to participate in the 2023 Equity in Energy Transitions Town Hall in June 2023
• Conclude with presenting your research via a poster and presentation in person at the end of the summer

Summer Overview

Students participate in SMART Grid research virtually, meeting on various online platforms including Zoom and Slack. Students are expected to work about 20 hours a week, and are mentored by faculty, technical mentors, and SMART Grid project students.

Orientation Week June 5-9, 2023
Students participate in a week of training workshops. Topics include an introduction to SMART Grid research areas, research ethics, communication, data management, and technical areas such as computer coding and power systems.

STEMAP Research, June 12-July 21, 2023
Student teams work with NM SMART Grid-funded faculty and students at their respective research sites at NMSU, NMT, or UNM main campuses.

End of the Summer Symposium, July 27-28, 2023
Students present their research to their research teams, faculty, mentors, family, and friends.

Summer Benefits! $4,000 stipend, housing stipend, meal allowance, and 3 credits of independent study from NMSU.

Academic Year

STEMAP students may choose to continue their participation through conference presentations, webinar series, and extended research.

Conference Presentations
Students receive travel support to present their STEMAP research at state, regional, and national conferences.

Extended Research
Students continue their STEMAP summer research work with a sponsoring faculty member at their home campus. Sponsoring faculty members are eligible for a $3,000 stipend; students can earn $2,000 stipends.

Eligibility

Undergraduate students who will not earn a bachelor’s degree before August 2023, are either a U.S. citizen or a permanent resident, and are enrolled at any college in New Mexico (except for the main campuses of NMSU, NMT, and UNM). Students at all Diné College campuses are eligible to apply. Competitive applicants will demonstrate successful completion of coursework in one or more of the following: computer science, programming, engineering, and/or mathematics.