Broadening participation in engineering through a research center-based mentoring program (Research)

TY - JOUR

T1 - Broadening participation in engineering through a research center-based mentoring program (Research)

AU - Santillan-Jimenez, Eduardo

AU - Hodges, Miss Sarah

AU - Villasante-Tezanos, Alejandro Gerardo

AU - Robert Theakston, M. S.

N1 - Funding Information: Sarah Hodges, is a senior in the Chemistry Department at the University of Kentucky. She is originally from Knoxville, Tennessee, is a University Patterson Scholar and a student in the Lewis Honors College. Since 2016 Sarah has conducted research at the University of Kentucky Center for Applied Energy Research (CAER). Initially, she worked under the mentorship of Dr. Bob Jewell and Dr. Tristana Duvallet in the Environmental and Coal Technologies group at UK CAER, where her work focused on the piezoelectric effects of Ettringite in CSA cement and the effect on the formation of Ettringite in CSA cement of different solutions. Sarah joined the Biofuels and Environmental Catalysis Group in 2017 under Dr. Mark Crocker and Dr. Eduardo Santillan-Jiminez, where her work was one of UK CAER’s first collaborative projects with the University of Grenoble Alps Pagora Engineering School of Pulp and Paper processing. Focusing on the thermochemical degradation process of cellulosic biomass during conversion to bio-oil, Sarah traveled to Grenoble, France for three months to begin her research and has since continued the project at UKCAER. In her time at UK CAER Sarah has been awarded a UK Summer Research Grant, a Kentucky Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, Research Scholars Program (EPSCoR RSP) Grant, and a National Science Foundation International Research Experience for Undergraduates (NSF iREU. In addition, she was awarded a Midwest Coal Ash Association Research Stipend and was the youngest person to ever win an American Coal Ash Association Educational Foundation Scholarship in 2017. Sarah is also a member of UK’s student chapters of NSBE (National Society of Black Engineers), SWE (Society of Women Engineers), SHPE (Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers), SPORES (Student Participating in Outreach through Research in Engineering and the Sciences) and the Energy Club and has regularly volunteered with NERD SQUAD (a Lexington STEM Education non-profit foundation) since 2015. Funding Information: This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1444779. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. Funding Information: Dr. Eduardo Santillan-Jimenez is the director of a mentoring program based at the University of Kentucky Center for Applied Energy Research (UK CAER) – and funded by the Broadening Participation in Engineering program of the National Science Foundation – designed to increase the number of African Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans graduating with engineering degrees and pursuing academic careers. Originally from Mexico, Dr. Santillan-Jimenez joined UK first as an undergraduate research intern and then as a graduate student performing his doctoral research at UK CAER and at the University of Alicante (Spain). After obtaining his Ph.D. in 2008, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Utrecht University (The Netherlands) prior to retuning to UK CAER, where he now holds the position of Principal Research Scientist. His current research focuses on the application of heterogeneous catalysis to the production of renewable fuels and chemicals, with emphasis on the upgrading of waste and algae oils to drop-in hydrocarbon fuels. His synergistic activities include leading and participating in a number of K-20 educational initiatives designed to increase and broaden participation in STEM fields.

PY - 2019/6/15

Y1 - 2019/6/15

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85078733494&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85078733494&partnerID=8YFLogxK

M3 - Conference article

AN - SCOPUS:85078733494

SN - 2153-5965

JO - ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Conference Proceedings

JF - ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Conference Proceedings

T2 - 126th ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition: Charged Up for the Next 125 Years, ASEE 2019

Y2 - 15 June 2019 through 19 June 2019

ER -