NuPUMAS

Neutrino Physics for Undergraduate Minority Advancement in Science

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About NuPUMAS

There are many barriers to entry for Underrepresented Minorities (URMs) in Physics and other STEM fields. Many of these barriers come out of a lack of opportunities for minority students throughout the education process. While students may find their way to post-secondary education, they may do so at institutions without educational tracks catering to their career goals or without graduate programs that allow them to find mentors and research opportunities where they can demonstrate their skills. These issues limit the ability of these students to find jobs in their intended field and/or limit their graduate school opportunities. Even when opportunities exist at their institutions, financial constraints often limit their ability to take advantage of them. This program aims to help students overcome these barriers by setting up a Texas-based trainee-ship program – Neutrino Physics for Undergraduate Minority Advancement in Science (NuPUMAS) – to recruit cohorts of URM students and provide them with a program allowing to overcome these barriers.

Program Overview

NuPUMAS addresses the needs of URM students in several key ways. Since undergraduate research results in increased STEM retention rates, improved self-efficacy, enhanced content knowledge, and professional communication skills, NuPUMAS is designed around multiple research opportunities. The heart of the program is an eight-week long paid traineeship program hosted at the University of Houston (UH) for the first six weeks, followed by travel to Brookhaven National Lab and the Sanford Underground Research Facility for two week-long National Laboratory Experiences.
This traineeship program will give the students skills and knowledge that will aid them in their studies, an experience that will allow them to develop their own research interests, and provide ways to build their resumes so they can stand out amongst their peers. The eight-week traineeship is followed by a two-semester financially-supported research project to be completed at their home institution. This will create additional opportunities to gain skills and experience, as well as to enhance the resume for a career in academia or industry. This program is designed to develop a culture of inclusion, inquiry, achievement, and STEM identity.

People

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Daniel Cherdack

Dr. Cherdack will serve as the lead PI for the program. He will be responsible for organizing and implementing the six-week traineeship program at the University of Houston (UH), overseeing the work of the program coordinators and the instructors. 
Research Interest: Experimental Neutrino Physics, Neutrino fluxes, cross-section measurements. ICARUS+T2K experiments

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Lisa Koerner

Dr. Koerner will serve as Cp-PI and will assist with designing and implementing the traineeship program at UH, as well as sharing much of the instructor's responsibilities. She will also deliver lectures on the standard model during summer courses week at UH.
Research Interest: Experimental Neutrino Physics, Neutrino Detectors, Neutrino Experiments (DUNE+NOvA)

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Andrew Renshaw

Andrew Renshaw will serve as Co-PI and will also be involved in oversight of the year-long home institution research projects through periodic phone meetings where the students will present their progress.
Research Interest: Experimental Neutrino Physics, advanced detector development for direct detection searches for dark matter particles, DUNE+DarkSide Collaboration

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Barbara Szczerbinska

Szczerbinska will serve as Co-PI and will be responsible for oversight of the Texas Physics Consortium (TPC) institution contributions. She will also help with the organization of the national lab trips, especially at Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) where she has strong ties.
Research Interest: Neutrino Physics, Geoneutrinos, Dark Matter

Participation

NuPUMAS is a collaborative project between the University of Houston and Universities from the Texas Physics Consortium (TPC). Members of NuPUMAS will also collaborate with NuSTEAM during the summer training activities at the University of Houston.
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TPC

All three of Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi(TAMUCC), Texas A&M University-Kingsville(TAMUK), and Tarleton State University (TSU)are members of the TPC which work together to provide the full suite of undergraduate major courses required to earn a Bachelor's degree in physics. Students in their junior and senior years attend hybrid-style classes offered in-person to local students and online for participants attending from other institutions.

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UH

University of Houston will provide a variety of resources for the students including classrooms for the six-week traineeship, computing hardware and software, and personnel. The participating faculty, students, and staff, many of them volunteers, will serve as instructors, lead activities based on their own research, and coach the participants through a variety of exercises.

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Facilities

TAMUCC and the other TPC institutes will provide the students with access to their laboratories and equipment in order to complete their year-long research projects. BNL and SURF will provide access to their facilities during the two-week long laboratory experience.

Funding

This program is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)

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Contact us
  • For details about the program, contact at the following email address:
  • ddcherdack@uh.edu
Department of Physics, University of Houston

Science and Research Building 1
3507 Cullen Blvd., Room 617
Houston, TX 77204-5005

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