CSULA-Caltech partnership for research and education in materials (PREM) program: Empowering students through research

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Frank A. Gomez, fgomez2@calstatela.edu, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, California State University, Los Angeles, 5151 State University Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90032
Achieving a more equitable demographic representation of the ethnic and gender diversity of America in its academic institutions is one of the most urgent problems facing us today. The CSULA-Caltech PREM Collaborative was established in April 2004, in part, to help achieve this sense of inclusion. The PREM program is a young NSF program established in 2003 by the Division of Materials Research. The program enhances and promotes diversity in materials science research and education by fostering and nurturing interactions between faculty and students at CSULA and Caltech. The program involves undergraduate, graduate and high school students and postdoctoral fellows who participate in cutting-edge interdisciplinary research coupled with educational seminars, workshops, faculty mentoring and advising, and student presentations. The PREM program plays a vital role in creating the next generation of scientists and educators whose vision is to link science priorities to the solving of societal problems.