SUNRISE scientists to host American Indian students, teachers

North Dakota SUNRISE faculty from both UND and NDSU will host tribal college and graduating high school senior students for the Native American Freshman Research Experience May 24—June 4.

The students will spend these two weeks working in laboratories with SUNRISE faculty mentors as well as participating in programs designed to introduce them to North Dakota’s two research university communities and to science and engineering majors. (SUNRISE stands for the Sustainable Energy Research and Supporting Education Initiative.)

The 10 tribal college students are from Dakota College at Bottineau, Dine College in New Mexico, Fort Berthold Community College, and Sitting Bull College. The three graduating high school senior students are from Dunseith High School and McLaugh Public High School. In addition, two instructors, one from Fort Berthold Community College and one from Turtle Mountain Community College, will work with faculty to design classroom projects related to the environmental impact of energy production.

Participants will be welcomed by UND Provost Paul LeBel, SUNRISE Director Wayne Seames, and SUNRISE staff members at an opening ceremony at 10:30 a.m. on Monday May 24 in Abbott Hall Room 138 on the UND Campus. After tours of the UND American Indian Student Center and the UND campus, participants will be paired with faculty mentors and work on research related to sustainable energy technologies.

The program is funded by the Department of Energy EPSCoR Infrastructure Improvement Program and the SUNRISE BioProducts Center of Excellence. The program coordinator is Julia Zhao, associate professor of chemistry at UND. The NDSU program is managed by Uwe Burghaus, associate professor of chemistry.

Founded in 2004, SUNRISE is a student-centered, faculty-led research program at UND, NDSU, and other North Dakota universities and colleges.

The mission of SUNRISE is to conduct research that contributes to solving complex energy-related problems, investigate the development of sustainable energy options and spur economic development and job-creation for North Dakota, increase UND and NDSU research competitiveness in sustainable energy, and produce graduates to develop and promote sustainable energy in North Dakota, the region, and the nation. All this is done within a unified, interdisciplinary program that translates fundamental research into commercial solutions.