UPR-UW PREM: Center for Advancing Research and Training for STEM Success

The UPR-UW PREM: Center for Advancing Research and Training for STEM Success brings together researchers from the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) at Mayagüez, the UPR Medical Sciences Campus, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) to pursue cutting edge materials research focused on the discovery, design, and development of functional materials, including heterogeneous catalysts, iron-based superconductors, liquid crystal-based sensors, and bioinstructive materials. The UPR-UW PREM research has diverse societal impacts by laying the scientific groundwork for technologies that impact climate change, quantum information, regenerative medicine, and drug delivery.

Participating in developing these technologies provides students at all the institutions with cross-cultural research, professional training, and mentoring. The UPR-UW PREM actively engages, recruits, and retains Hispanics in STEM careers, with a focus on empowering Hispanic women. Broadening participation in STEM education and the future workforce is promoted by: (1) increased recruitment in graduate programs at UPR-Mayaguez and facilitating access to UW programs through engagement with research and research-inspired educational content; (2) increased retention in STEM education through involvement in research, research-focused professional development, and building community through reciprocal research exchange visits and culturally-sensitive mentoring; and (3) increased degree attainment through the community and collaborative network created and maintained by the PREM.

The goal of the UPR-UW PREM: Center for Advancing Research and Training for STEM Success is to create a sustainable, cross-cultural, and cross-disciplinary research ecosystem that enables increased participation of historically underrepresented population in materials research and contributes to strengthen STEM workforce. The UPR-UW PREM recruits, retains, and facilitates degree completion for graduate and undergraduate students through a research plan that combines the partnering institutions’ shared interests in functional nanostructured materials, soft materials, biomaterials, and complex fluids and interfaces.

The partnership comprises two Interdisciplinary Research Teams (IRTs), both of which rely on deep collaboration involving the expertise and capabilities of researchers at UPR and UW. IRT 1 develops functional nanostructured materials for catalysis, adsorption, and superconductivity, and IRT 2 develops new forms of soft materials, including bioinstructive materials, organic molecule-polymer systems, and liquid crystal (LC)-based sensors.

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.