Conference: conference: support for conference experience for undergraduate students at the DNP meeting

The National Science Foundation's Division of Physics awarded Duquesne University a $160,000 Project Grant under the Mathematical and Physical Sciences program (CFDA 47.049) to support undergraduate student participation in the Conference Experience for Undergraduates (CEU) program at the Division of Nuclear Physics Annual Meeting for two years (September 1, 2025 through August 31, 2027). The grant funds partial scholarships enabling undergraduate students to attend the 2025 DNP meeting in Chicago and the 2026 meeting in Philadelphia, where students present nuclear physics research findings and network with graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, faculty, and senior researchers in the field.

A critical component of the award involves establishing a near-peer mentoring network to enhance student retention and career development in nuclear science. Duquesne University subawarded $160,000 to North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (NC A&T) to manage the mentoring program, which includes recruiting and training graduate student and postdoctoral researcher mentors, coordinating mentor-mentee pairings, conducting an 8-hour mentoring workshop at conference onset, and supporting PI attendance at both DNP meetings. These integrated services aim to encourage undergraduate students to pursue careers in nuclear physics and related fields including basic science, nuclear medicine, defense, national security, and industry applications.

Abstract

The division of nuclear physics annual meeting brings together the country's nuclear physicists to share the newest scientific discoveries and advances in particle detectors and technologies. Hundreds of undergraduate and graduate students attend this meeting and are considering a career in nuclear science or related fields. These students will create the future workforce and contribute to a variety of fields from basic science to nuclear medicine, defense, and national security, and industry fields that will make use of their knowledge of nuclear physics. This award will aid in the retention of both groups of students by partially supporting the undergraduate students to attend the conference experience for undergraduates (CEU) and a NEAR-peer mentoring network, for two years. Graduate students and postdoctoral researchers (NEAR-PEERS) will be recruited to mentor the undergraduate students in attendance. The mentors will participate in an 8-hour mentoring workshop at the beginning of the conference and then apply these skills during the conference with their assigned undergraduate mentees. The 2025 and 2026 DNP meetings will take place in chicago and philadelphia, respectively. The CEU program is a natural venue for students who have had an undergraduate nuclear physics research experience to present the results of their research and interact with other students, graduate students, and postdocs, as well as faculty and senior researchers in the field. The CEU program has been very successful in fostering these interactions, which helps students get an introduction and exposure to research across nuclear physics, and to enable senior researchers to get to know some of their junior colleagues. The goal of this mentoring program is to encourage students to see themselves as scientists and continue into nuclear science careers as emphasized in the 2023 long range plan for nuclear science. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.- subawards are planned for this award.