Open hardware refers to the licensing of the design specifications of a physical object in such a way that the described object can be created, modified, used, or distributed by anyone. Open hardware sensors or other instruments present an attractive opportunity to expand the frontiers of scientific research by dramatically lowering the costs of instrumentation. They also present an attractive opportunity large-scale federal infrastructure projects. This grant supports Alison Parker at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, who is leading an effort to bring open hardware approaches to scale through government agencies. Parker’s team will engage federal audiences through workshops and roundtable discussions to stress the opportunities that are presented in pre-production, co-creation, customization, and collaboration through open processes. The team will also produce white papers exploring flagship programs within the U.S. government related to low-cost and open hardware, strategies for integration of low-cost and open hardware into federal investment in science through procurement and grants, legal analyses of intellectual property as a barrier to integration of low-cost and open hardware, and topical policy issues.

This grant supports a partnership between the University of Puerto Rico Cayey (UPRC; a Hispanic Serving Institution) and the University of Buffalo (UB) that seeks to develop sustainable pathways to graduate education in chemistry, a field wherein only 6.2% of 2018 Ph.D. recipients identified as Hispanic. Grant funds will allow UPRC to host an introductory seminar; select six participants for a 10-week summer research program at UB; provide research opportunities and mentoring for the six selected participants; and provide additional academic enrichment activities—all designed in collaboration with UB chemistry faculty—to provide students with the skills and training to pursue and succeed in graduate study. Students successfully completing the program will be offered admission into the UB graduate chemistry program.

This grant supports an emerging partnership between New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (NMT; a Hispanic Serving Institution) and Navajo Technical University (NTU; a Tribal University). The two institutions recently signed a memorandum of understanding to pursue a collaborative effort to bring safe, clean drinking water to Navajo households; demonstrating how these institutions go beyond serving students but serve their communities as well. Building on their research collaborations, the institutions now seek to develop a bridge into graduate programs for NTU students, with an emphasis on environmental science.  Grant funds allow the institutions to identify and establish a relationship with a mentor university; host a focus group at the American Indian Science and Engineering Society with other institutional leaders; facilitate surveys, interviews, and focus groups with students, alumni, and faculty to gain insights into systemic barriers that impede pathways to graduate education; facilitate interviews and focus groups with administrators to understand institutional priorities, plans, and goals; and formulate an action plan to implement change at each institution, including recommendations that will be presented to senior administrators.

The urgency of the Black Lives Matter protests and ongoing attention to racial justice has moved many National Academies into action—including the National Academy of Engineering (NAE). This grant supports Elizabeth Cady who, along with Percy Pierre, is shepherding work at NAE’s Racial Justice & Equity (RJ&E) Committee. The Committee’s objectives are to achieve a diverse engineering population; reverse disappointing trends of decreasing college enrollment and degree completion in engineering over the last 10 years; provide access to successful careers in engineering through nontraditional routes; and provide the necessary tools both to retain underrepresented minorities in engineering and enable them to thrive. Grant funds will allow Cady and Pierre to commission, oversee, and disseminate a landscape scan and literature review focused on five topical areas (increased awareness of racial injustice and inequity; mentoring for minority engineering students and early-career minority engineers; nondegree training for high-tech positions; development of data and relationships to support machine learning algorithms; and efforts to increase the participation of minorities in engineering and technology); develop a framework for action informed by the landscape scan and literature review; and then use this framework to inform the ongoing work of the RJ&E Committee.