Current Workforce Development Initiatives

The Brandeis MRSEC has a strong commitment to broadening participation.
Partnership with a HBCU
The Hampton-Brandeis PREM program aims to bring more candidates into university labs and offer pathways to advance their careers.
Current Initiatives
MRSEC graduate students and postdocs who mentor summer undergraduates are provided an interactive 90-minute workshop on “Mentoring and Academic Belonging” in which the goals of the workshop are for participants to be able to:
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Discuss methods to foster a growth mindset
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Encourage re-attributions of difficulty
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Encourage belonging based on effort and engagement
The MRSEC has partnered with the Brandeis Vice President of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging, Provost and the Dean of Arts and Sciences, Heller and IBS to offer institution-wide opportunities that aim to broaden participation within the sciences and increase the impact of selected programming.
Undergraduate student engagement in an independent research project has been shown to be a powerful tool for increasing participation within the sciences so students are encouraged and enabled to apply to the Brandeis REU program.
Waltham Public School K-12 students who are exposed to authentic research experiences in their classrooms will be much more likely to pursue science in college. That is why the MRSEC partners with the following groups to provide introductions to materials research and laboratory tours of MRSEC facilities to future-STEM students.
- The Waltham Public School District