NIST and the National Science Foundation Launch New Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Fellowships

College students and faculty have new opportunities for fellowships in chemistry and chemical engineering at the Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, Md., and Boulder, Colo.

The Division of Chemistry and the Division of Chemical and Transport Systems at the National Science Foundation and the Chemical Science and Technology Laboratory at NIST are offering fellowships to graduate students and faculty members under a memorandum of understanding that these two agencies recently signed.

Selected graduate students and faculty will conduct research in NIST's Chemical Science and Technology Laboratory. NSF is providing funds for student stipends and faculty salaries.

"An important goal of our new agreement with the National Science Foundation is to provide new links between universities and industry," said Hratch Semerjian, CSTL director. "These NIST/NSF research opportunities will be directed toward industrial needs in a wide range of technical areas."

In addition to the graduate student and faculty opportunities, a Summer Research Opportunities program, which is scheduled to begin in the summer of 1996, will offer 10 weeks of laboratory research to up to 15 graduating college seniors. The goal of the program is to provide students with an appreciation for how basic NSF-supported research is translated into useful technology. Participating students will have access to state-of-the-art instrumentation and will interact with NIST researchers as well as industrial and academic collaborators.

Announcements for the Summer Research Opportunities for graduating seniors will be sent to chemistry and chemical engineering department heads at universities and colleges around the country, including historically black and other minority institutions. Students will receive a $6,000 stipend and reimbursement for travel expenses. The 1996 program announcement will be sent out in the fall of 1995 and applications will be due in January 1996. The Graduate Student Research program is already under way and offers three-month research positions at NIST for up to 15 graduate students at a time.

The graduate student fellowships will be awarded to students nominated by NSF's Division of Chemistry and Division of Chemical and Transport Systems research grant recipients. Students and/or their advisers should identify a CSTL researcher with whom they want to collaborate and discuss specific research projects. Deadlines for application are April 1, July 1 and Nov. 1. Students will receive $10,000 stipends and reimbursement for travel costs.

Faculty members can apply for summer or sabbatical research in chemistry or chemical engineering in CSTL through the Research Opportunities for College and University Faculty program. Researchers' salaries will be covered up to $50,000 with reimbursement for travel costs. The application deadline is 90 days before the start of the proposed research project.

Applications for any of the new fellowships should be in one of the following broad technical areas, which dovetail with current programs in CSTL and NSF: computational chemistry, environmental chemistry and engineering, structural chemistry, and interfacial science and engineering.

For application information, contact the NIST Chemical Science and Technology Laboratory, A317 Chemistry Building, Gaithersburg, Md. 20899-0001, (301) 975-3143.

As a non-regulatory agency of the Commerce Department's Technology Administration, NIST promotes U.S. economic growth by working with industry to develop and apply technology, measurements and standards.