Purdue Partners With US Navy’s Office Of Naval Research To Support Minorities In STEM

Purdue University, the U.S. Navy’s Office of Naval Research and a coalition of other schools have launched the Blue Integrated Partnerships in a bid to support minority researchers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

Blue Integrated Partnerships will round up underserved minority students and provide them an opportunity to partake in research projects and workshops at Purdue University and other participating institutions. The overarching goal is to ensure students are ready to pursue their academic ventures.

Through the program, more minority students will be given support with the aid of a $2.8 million grant from the ONR’s Mission Capable, Persistent and Survivable Platforms Department.

“We want this program to become a super-pipeline,” said Luciano Castillo, Purdue’s Kenninger Professor of Renewable Energy and Power Systems in Mechanical Engineering,

She added: “K-12 students will learn what it takes to attend a STEM school like Purdue. Undergraduate students at minority-serving institutions learn how to conduct world-class research.

“Graduate students learn what it takes to become transformational scientists and leaders. This is how we change the story and bring true diversity to academia, which in turn will change the world.”