NRT: Alabama Collaborative for Contemporary Education in Precision Timing (ACCEPT)

Over one-third of the U.S. economy ($11 Trillion annually) directly depends on precision timing. Precision timing (PT) is an integral part of our national security. Incredibly, there is no degree program in the US dedicated to training young talent in the timekeeping technologies that underpin our society.

In response, the University of Alabama (UA) has created the first MS and PhD concentrations in precision timing, incorporating courses in physics, engineering, and mathematics, developed through direct conversation with corporate and government partners. These conversations made clear that the field of precision time and frequency requires talent that can apply large-scale communication and negotiation skills across multiple STEM disciplines while considering business and national security interests as well.

This National Science Foundation Research Traineeship (NRT) award, the Alabama Collaborative for Contemporary Education in Precision Timing (ACCEPT), will develop an innovative graduate (MS, PhD) education model responsive to the unique needs for precision timing workforce development. ACCEPT will provide a comprehensive training and educational opportunity for one hundred and sixty (160) MS and PhD students, including twenty-four (24) funded trainees from physics, mathematics, and electrical and computer engineering.

Trainees will combine coursework across these three departments with professional development in critical areas identified by precision timing experts (teamwork, leadership, ethics, communication), and put their training into practice via research experiences with ACCEPT partners, student-led initiatives, and networking at conferences and workshops.

Precision timing (PT) is a highly interdisciplinary field that requires a wide range of academic and processional skillsets. Integrating them requires significant practical immersion that includes learning, practice, and growth experiences. The NRT program team will build a training program for versatile STEM professionals equipped to take on leadership roles in precision timing based on three pillars: 1) an interdisciplinary curriculum where foundational STEM courses lead to PT-focused courses blending hands-on technology immersion and discussion-based PT seminars; 2) holistic workforce development (professional, communication, scientific) with integrated application from day one, and 3) a sustained professional immersion experience for students to grow technical and workforce skills in realistic use-case scenarios.

Trainees will build from a strong disciplinary foundation to successful interdisciplinary work while integrating real-world training and development. Trainees will learn to run a time service facility; analyze, investigate, and optimize time signals; and innovate to make clocks more robust, reliable, and compact. In parallel, they will gain the experience and skills necessary to communicate with stakeholders in business, government, and defense.

This requires them to understand the importance of PT in our society, the importance of navigating the extensive interpersonal network that is the PT field, and to be ethically trained and grounded. The program will boost research and education infrastructure through the creation of a scalable, transferable template for interdisciplinary degree programs in PT.

Academic departments nationally will benefit as the program is readily scalable and transferable to any STEM graduate program, with summative and formative evaluation approaches informing programmatic stability.

The NSF Research Traineeship (NRT) Program is designed to encourage the development and implementation of bold, new potentially transformative models for STEM graduate education training. The program is dedicated to effective training of STEM graduate students in high priority interdisciplinary or convergent research areas through comprehensive traineeship models that are innovative, evidence-based, and aligned with changing workforce and research needs.  

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.