Argonne pairs GEM students with scientific experts who serve as mentors

 

POSTED ON Oct 31, 2022

 

Argonne National Laboratory announced last week that it played host to a group of graduate students as part of the GEM Consortium Fellowship. The program helps develop the next generation of researchers going into STEM careers by mentoring minority graduate students. GEM is a nonprofit network of over 150 universities, government research facilities, and multinational corporations.

According to Argonne, the science and engineering research national laboratory operated by UChicago Argonne LLC for the United States Department of Energy, the 2022 GEM cohort this summer included students from 11 states and 13 universities. Their STEM fields include physics, astrophysics, computer science, artificial intelligence, mechanical, chemical, and electrical engineering, and applied mathematics, among others.

The laboratory pairs GEM students with scientific experts who serve as mentors, providing guidance and feedback on the students’ projects throughout the program. Students also have access to Argonne’s world-class facilities.

Argonne researchers work closely with researchers from hundreds of companies, universities, and federal, state and municipal agencies to help them solve their specific problems, advance America’s scientific leadership and prepare the nation for a better future. With employees from more than 60 nations, Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time.

“Scientific innovation depends on diversity within the STEM careers,” said Kawtar Hafidi, Argonne’s associate laboratory director for Physical Sciences and Engineering in a statement. ​“If we only include people from similar backgrounds or those with a similar way of seeing and tackling problems, then we’re missing out on the ingenuity, brilliance, and potential that individual people bring to the table. We need unique and diverse perspectives in science to help solve some of the most pressing scientific and engineering challenges of our time.”

In 2021, Argonne’s first cohort of GEM students conducted research in diverse STEM fields such as applied mathematics, biomedical engineering, civil engineering, computer science, environmental engineering, and physics. Mentors provided guidance and feedback on students’ projects throughout the program.

The nation’s first national laboratory, Argonne conducts leading-edge basic and applied scientific research in virtually every scientific discipline.