American Indian students from tribal communities throughout North and South Dakota are participating in the Native American Freshman Research Experience at NDSU and the University of North Dakota. The event goes until July 17.
Founded in 2005, SUNRISE is a student-centered, faculty-led research program at NDSU, UND and other North Dakota universities.
Fifteen high school students, two high school teachers and four tribal college students are spending two weeks working in laboratories with SUNRISE faculty mentors. They will participate in programs designed to introduce them to North Dakota’s two research university communities and to science and engineering majors.
UND President Robert Kelley, SUNRISE director Wayne Seames and staff members of the UND American Indian Student Services Center welcomed participants at an opening ceremony on July 6 at the UND American Indian Student Services Center. The participants were paired with their faculty mentors to work on research related to sustainable energy technologies.
The mission of SUNRISE is to conduct research that contributes to solving complex energy-related problems, investigate the development of sustainable energy options, 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.
The Department of Energy’s Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) Infrastructure Improvement Program and the SUNRISE BioProducts Center of Excellence provide funding for this program. The program coordinator is Julia Zhao, assistant professor of chemistry at UND. The NDSU program is managed by Uwe Burghaus, associate professor of chemistry.
July 15, 2009