This summer, the CRC will continue its two annual summer exchange programs by facilitating research collaborations involving two Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) and by sponsoring a student exchange program between May and August.
The SUMmer Resesearch EXperience, or SUMREX, enters its fourth year with students from CRC-funded education programs visiting the campus sites of CRC research projects. This year, the University of Puerto Rico-Mayagüez will send two students – rising senior Ihan J. Acevedo González and rising junior Robert Ethan Lewis – from Prof. Ismael Pagán-Trinidad’s CRC-funded education program to Oregon State University to participate in research led by Dr. Dan Cox. This marks the fourth consecutive year of exchange between these programs.
Two students from a CRC-funded education program at Tougaloo College led by Dr. Meherun Laiju will spend the summer with Old Dominion University researcher Dr. Wie Yusuf. They are senior Courtney Thomas, a sociology and social work major, and junior Madison Bibbs, a psychology major.
CRC will also be hosting two groups of faculty and students from Minority Serving Institutions for 10 weeks this summer as part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science & Technology Directorate (S&T)-facilitated Summer Research Team (SRT) program.
Researchers at North Carolina State University, led by CRC PI Dr. Gavin Smith, will host Dr. Michelle Dovil and students Tenesha Washington and Tia Maxwell from Florida A&M University. The two schools will coordinate on a summer-long project called “The Place We Call Home: The Risk Perceptions and Place Attachments of Coastal Communities at Risk for Sea Level Rise in North Carolina.”
Researchers at Old Dominion University, led by Dr. Yusuf, will host Dr. Kulwinder Kaur and students Jaida Ellis and Genesis McClain from Elizabeth City State University on a project called “An Examination of Mental Health Effects of Hurricanes on Vulnerable Populations in Coastal North Carolina and Implications for Resilience.”
The DHS SRT program, administered by S&T’s Office of University Programs, is a summer internship that provides quality research experiences to early career faculty members and students attending a Minority Serving Institution in the United States and the 16 U.S. territories. The goal of the program fosters relationships for long-term projects and enhances scientific leadership at MSIs in DHS-relevant research areas.
In past years, CRC researchers hosted teams from Benedict (S.C.) College and Norfolk State University.
For more information about the program, visit https://www.orau.gov/dhseducation/faculty/.