Partnership for Education and the advancement of quantum and nano-Sciences
STROBE STC
Institutional Research Capacity. STROBE has 31 active researchers (25 faculty and six academic
scientists) across six institutions, five of which offer Ph.D. degrees. STROBE trainees make up a large part of the Center, with 43 graduate students, 11 postdocs, and 18 undergraduate students directly supported by STROBE and/or performing research in a STROBE-funded laboratory. Already in the first year of NSF Funding (October 2016-September 2017), STROBE investigators published 14 manuscripts and were invited to give 95 plenary, keynote, and research talks. During this time, STROBE researchers also submitted five patents, 15 provisional applications, and one licensed technology. STROBE’s cutting edge imaging technologies, advanced instrumentation, and collaborations with national laboratories and
industry uniquely positions STROBE to build the microscopes of tomorrow and train the next generation of scientists to be agents of innovation.
PREM Pathway Starting Point. STROBE is an NSF Science and Technology Center on Real-Time
Functional Imaging, composed of six universities (UCLA, UC Berkeley, UC Irvine, CU Boulder, FIU, and FLC) across the country. STROBE was formed by a group of diverse scientists who were passionate about creating a thriving STC ecosystem that could cultivate diverse people, ideas, and research. Thus, STROBE’s diversity efforts are woven throughout the Center’s fabric by design, as illustrated by its membership, with STROBE faculty, staff, and trainees representing 2-5 times more than the national average for women and UR groups in physics. STROBE’s interdisciplinary collaborations and diverse representation of faculty, staff, students, and leadership have allowed the Center to develop its own unique community for innovation that acts as the bedrock for a thriving ecosystem for all.
Challenges and Opportunities. STROBE recognizes that continuing recruitment from diverse undergraduate student pools is essential for STROBE’s success as a Center, however diversity of Ph.D. recipients in race and gender in physics and engineering remains abysmal. Therefore, STROBE’s major role in PREM is to leverage its research strengths, cross campus infrastructure, and community for innovation to increase the recruitment, retention, and degree attainment of NSU and FLC undergraduates my immersing them in wrap-around best practices programming. The unique community found across STROBE will integrate NSU and FLC to create a welcoming, inclusive, and diverse community for PREM trainees and will prepare them with the deep technical understanding and experience required to be competitive in the STEM fields and the broad transferable skills that employers seek in 21st century applicants. This diverse pool of physics and engineering graduates may choose to enter graduate programs within STROBE, at NSU, or elsewhere to make an impact on STEM communities across the country.