ORAU Member University Wins $400,000 Grant from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico (PUPR) has won a $400,000 grant from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The grant will support 10 PUPR students to conduct research at the university and participate in summer research programs at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) from August 2009-August 2013, said Dr. Houssain Kettani, PUPR professor and director of the university's Partnership Development Office.

"The funds will pay for tuition, books and other fees, support the students for travel to present their research and provide them a nice monthly stipend" Dr. Kettani said. "They will receive the benefit of being co-mentored by a researcher at ORNL and an advisor from PUPR, and the work will count toward their master's thesis." This grant will contribute to increasing the number of Hispanic graduate degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)—one of the nation's urgent goals to maintain U.S. technological competitiveness and global leadership.

Dr. Kettani credits Oak Ridge Associated Universities' (ORAU) support of PUPR's research proposal to the NRC as a contributing factor in the university's winning of the grant, the largest it has ever received from the NRC.

He describes the scholarships made possible by the grant as win-win for both the students and America, which needs students to pursue research and earn engineering or science degrees so that they can fill the shoes of its retiring nuclear workforce.

Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory with four million people, is predominantly composed of Hispanics. Scholarships from federal entities such as the NRC and the research outreach programs that ORAU administers through the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education play a large role in increasing the percentage of Hispanics earning degrees, from the associate's degree to the Ph.D. level, Dr. Kettani said.

"All categories of the degrees awarded to Hispanics are increasing at a rate of 0.2 percent a year," he explained. "However, the census data show that the Hispanic student-age population is increasing by 0.4 percent each year. So, Hispanics are becoming more and more underrepresented, making scholarships to Hispanic Serving Institutions all the more important.

"The per capita income of Puerto Rico is about $19,000 a year," Dr. Kettani said. "That is less than the poorest state in the union, Mississippi, which is $24,000. Although PUPR's tuition is very cheap compared with the mainland, our students have trouble paying their tuition, so they have to study and work full time. Thus, retention rate is very low. Two out of three don't finish their degrees. PUPR has 6,000 students, and half of them are part-timers. The reason they are part-timers is that they must choose between basic survival needs and education. Our bachelor's degree programs take five years to complete, and seven percent of students drop out when they reach the fifth year because they don't have the funds to finish. We are proud of our collaborations with ORNL, ORAU and NRC and the support we receive from them, and we really need it."

Twelve PUPR students participated in ORISE-administered summer research programs at ORNL this past summer, six with the Faculty and Student Teams (FaST) program and six with the Research Alliance for Math and Science (RAMS) program. Two PUPR faculty members also participated in the programs last year. Dr. Kettani, who is from the electrical and computer engineering/computer science (ECECS) department, and Dr. Alejandro Suarez, professor of chemical engineering department, accompanied the students to ORNL this summer.

"This has been an experience that our students never dreamed of, given the socio-economic conditions on the island," Dr. Kettani said.
He explained that his two years as a professor at PUPR and four years at Jackson State University before that have impressed upon him the issues and challenges that all minorities face. African-Americans and Hispanics share common issues such as underrepresentation, socio-economic disadvantage and fewer role models for education among families and friends. The Hispanics of Puerto Rico have the added challenges of having Spanish as their first language and being isolated from the mainland U.S., he said.

Dr. Kettani has first-hand knowledge of the ORNL summer research programs, having participated during several summers himself. "One of the reasons I motivate my students to come here to collaborate with the national labs and take advantage of such opportunities is because of my own personal experience," he said. "I understand the importance. We gain from the expertise and technical knowledge of the mentors at ORNL and the importance of what they're doing."