University Letter

UND's faculty and staff newsletter

American Indian high school seniors will take part in STEM education program

Twenty-five American Indian high school seniors are taking part in the annual Nurturing American Tribal Undergraduate Research Education (NATURE) program, which began Monday, June 6, on campus.

The program provides aspiring students the opportunity to advance their interests in subjects in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics disciplines before they enter college.

The two-week long series of events is co-hosted each year by UND and North Dakota State University, with the first half of the first week of activity will at UND. The second half of the first week’s events will be held at NDSU. Students will then select to do research for the entire second week at either UND or NDSU. The closing ceremony will be held in Fargo.

“This program provides students interested in science, engineering and math the chance to take specialized classes to dive deeper into subjects they might pursue in their college careers,” said Grant McGimpsey, UND vice president of research and economic development. “This year’s program is on track to have the highest participation numbers on record, which reflects the national growing trend for students pursuing studies in STEM disciplines.”

Operating since about 2000, the event is coordinated by the North Dakota Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (ND EPSCoR), which has a goal to increase the competitiveness of North Dakota for merit-based grants and contracts in support of science and technology research from federal funding agencies.

ND EPSCoR is funded by federal-state-private sector partnerships to manage a comprehensive research development plan that involves Infrastructure Improvement Programs, Science Outreach and Recruitment Programs, Technology Transfer and Commercialization Programs, and Tribal Colleges Programs.  Federal research partners include the Department of Energy, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation and United States Department of Agriculture.