Levent Atici (Undergraduate Research) attended the annual NSF Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) PI meeting that was held at the National Science Foundation Headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia, on May 15-16, 2023.
The mission of NSF EPSCoR is to enhance the research competitiveness of targeted jurisdictions (states, territories, and commonwealths) by strengthening STEM capacity and capability. The 2023 PI meeting convened nationally recognized speakers, EPSCoR stakeholders, EPSCoR PIs, and NSF staff to focus on opportunities, successes, and impacts of NSF EPSCoR.
Atici presented a lightning talk on the NSF EPSCoR RII-BEC Grant (# 2225755 & $999,595) titled Enhancing the Transition of COVID-19 Disadvantaged Students from Undergraduate to Graduate Studies in STEM through Multi-Year Undergraduate Research Experiences. The project is a four-year collaborative effort between the office of undergraduate research (Levent Atici, PI), the College of Sciences (Eduardo Robleto, Co-PI, School of Life Sciences; Kurt Regner, Co-PI, School of Life Sciences) and Howard Hughes College of Engineering (Sarah Harris, Co-PI, department of electrical and computer engineering).
Through this grant, two cohorts of 20 first-year engineering and science students will work with 13 faculty mentors and 8 peer mentors and participate in a four-year holistic program to improve their sense of belonging, self-efficacy, persistence, and transition from undergraduate to graduate school.
