- The MSIPP program plays such a vital role in providing opportunities, not just for the institutions, but also for the students. And so it really creates opportunities for students who come from underprivileged backgrounds. It creates opportunities for minority-serving institutions who may not have the same level of support and resources as your top-tier, tier-one, division 1 type schools. So it gives them funding opportunities to be able to participate in cutting-edge research, to be able to learn about DOE missions, and for students to get involved and reinforce the DOE EM workforce pipeline. - [Announcer] This is the "ORISE Featurecast." Join host Michael Holtz for conversations with ORISE experts on STEM workforce development, scientific and technical reviews, and the evaluation of radiation exposure and environmental contamination. You'll also hear from ORISE research program participants and their mentors as they talk about their experiences and how they are helping shape the future of science. Welcome to the "ORISE Featurecast." - Welcome to another episode of the "ORISE Featurecast." As always, I'm your host, Michael Holtz of the Communications and Marketing Department at ORISE. And I'm really excited today to be talking to my new friend, Phonecia Myers, who is program manager for the US Department of Energy's Minority Serving Institutions Partnership Program. Phonecia, welcome to the "ORISE Featurecast." - Thank you, thank you for having me, Michael. I'm super excited to be here and super excited to share about the MSIPP program. - I'm so excited to learn more. So, Phonecia, if you would, you're one of the program managers, tell me a little bit more about your role, kind of how you got there, and then we'll sort of launch into what is MSIPP and go from there. - Yeah, absolutely. So as you stated, I'm one of the program managers for the program along with Vivian Holloway, and we manage the Department of Energy's Office of Environmental Management's Minority Serving Institutions Partnership Program. And so what that means is DOE is the sponsor, this is their program, and they have entrusted SRNL, the Savannah River National Laboratory, to manage the program for them on their behalf. And so that includes overseeing the budget, implementing their vision for the different programmatic elements for the program, so that includes our internship program, our postdoc program, our graduate fellowship program, which we'll talk more about, the competitive research awards, and some of the other programmatic elements as well. - And what I love about this program obviously is it's in the name, it's for minority-serving institutions primarily. - Yes. - To promote education and development of that next generation scientific workforce focused on science, engineering, technology, all of those STEM related disciplines that of course we at ORISE love to talk about all of the time. Talk about how important the MSIPP program is. - The MSIPP program plays such a vital role in providing opportunities, not just for the institutions, but also for the students. And so it really creates opportunities for students who come from underprivileged backgrounds. It creates opportunities for minority-serving institutions who may not have the same level of support and resources as your top-tier, tier-one, division 1 type schools. So it gives them funding opportunities to be able to participate in cutting-edge research, to be able to learn about DOE missions, and for students to get involved and reinforce the DOE EM workforce pipeline. - Right, and you know, one of my colleagues, Desmond Stubbs, and I talk all the time about the value of students at, you know, minority-serving institutions. And in a lot of ways, they're these hidden treasure troves of resources and students, because, as you said, they're underserved, they're underrepresented. So this is an opportunity to tap into those amazing minds that are at these minority-serving institutions that want to do science, that have the ability, and the capability, and the desire to be part of that next-generation workforce that we talk about. - Absolutely, absolutely. I think you hit the nail on the head. They have what it takes, they have the capabilities. Honestly, they just need the opportunity. And I think that's where MSIPP comes in and really just provides a vital opportunity for those students and institutions who have a deep interest in science, absolutely. - Phonecia, can you give me an idea of just some of the research projects that MSIPP fellows are working on? - So some of the research projects that MSIPP has supported it's a very wide range of topics, but all of those topics funnel back into the core technical areas for DOE EM. So that includes soil and groundwater remediation, tank waste, climate change, cybersecurity, deactivation and decommissioning, all just to give you a very wide-range view in what those research projects tie into that MSIPP supports. - Very important, very big priority issues for the US Department of Energy. And these are, I always like to say this when I talk about ORISE research participation programs, these are real, on the ground, in the lab research projects. You're not doing scientific grunt work. You are doing your own research in collaboration with a mentor, with other team members. So all of that is important, right? - Absolutely, absolutely. You hit the nail on the head. And, you know, it's really about preparing students to be able to come back into DOE's workforce after they graduate. So giving them that exposure to DOE mission areas, like I said, like the tank waste, and cybersecurity, and climate change, all of which very, very important areas for DOE. And a part of that includes the students partnering with mentors at national laboratories, such as the Savannah River National Laboratory, to give them that guidance and mentorship in training. - Excellent, and I know you've got some deadlines coming up and some events happening. - We do! - So let's talk about some of that. - Okay, yeah, so we'll start with the graduate fellowship program. The graduate fellowship program is one of MSIPP's new programmatic elements. We're working on initiating our first cohort, so our inaugural cohort, for the graduate fellowship program which we've partnered with ORISE with. And the deadline for the application for that program is December 31st, so 30 more days quickly approaching. We've already gotten a nice size group of applicants thus far, we're definitely looking for more. Our applications, our positions for that program provide opportunities at our partnering national laboratories and DOE field sites. So, you know, if you're interested in more than just working in South Carolina, while we would love to have you, we also have opportunities at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, We have opportunities at Idaho National Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory, Los Alamos, and PNNL, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. And some of the DOE- - Wow, so you... - Mhmm. - Sorry, go ahead. Finish, you were saying other DOE field offices. - Yes, so we have some with the ETEC out in California, and we have some, one of the DOE sites in New York. So we have a wide range of opportunities for that. And the deadline for that application, again, is December 31st of 2022. - If you wanna get a taste of another part of the country, perhaps the MSIPP graduate fellowship is the direction you might wanna apply. What else do you have coming up, Phonecia? - Oh, another thing we also have coming up, we have our internship program. That deadline is I believe in March. - Okay. - So we have that coming up, we're really excited about that as well. That's one of our legacy programmatic elements to MSIPP. We've also partnered with ORISE with that in the past many, many years, so we have a special relationship when it comes to the internship program. So if you are interested in that as well, please be on the lookout for those opportunities as well. - Awesome, and I believe that there's a exploratory session in February, February 17th, to talk about summer internships if anyone is interested in learning more. And the link to the MSIPP website will be included in the description for this podcast episode, so be looking for that. - Okay, perfect. - Phonecia, is there anything you wanna say about MSIPP or anything that I have not touched on that we wanna make sure that we cover? - Yes, I would just like to say that MSIPP, beyond the graduate fellowship program and internship program, is just, I really wanna hone in on how great of a program it is. While we, at SRNL, manage it for DOE, DOE champions this program. They really believe in the program, they believe in the students, they believe in our PIs that work with us on the competitive research awards and with our partnering national laboratories. So this is a really great program, really designed to provide opportunities, training opportunities, mentorship opportunities, to really help build that next generation of scientists and engineers for DOE's workforce pipeline. So really excited about it, it's an awesome program. We have several programmatic elements. If you're interested in learning more about all of our programs, please visit our website at srnl.doe.gov/msipp. - Awesome, please, I can't underscore enough for anyone who might be listening and interested, minority-serving institutions, again, are treasure troves of amazing students. This is a tremendous opportunity. It's a great match for anyone who is looking for an opportunity to do real-world research for the US Department of Energy at any of the facilities that Phonecia mentioned. So get on that application. - Yes, please. - Just do it. - We'll be glad to have you. We'll be ecstatic to have you, please do. - Awesome, and you know, the future of science in the United States is going nowhere but up, so it's a great opportunity to get in on some groundbreaking, amazing work that's happening at the US Department of Energy. So, Phonecia Myers, thank you so much for the opportunity to learn more about MSIPP and, hopefully, we'll get some folks to apply and be part of the program. - Yes, again, thank you again, Michael, for having me. This was a lot of fun, super exciting. I've been excited about this all day, so just waiting on it. I've been really excited about it. Thank you so much for the opportunity. I would love to come back to talk more about MSIPP if given the opportunity. But thank you so much for having me today. - [Announcer] Thank you for listening to the "ORISE Featurecast." To learn more about the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, visit orise.orau.gov or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at ORISEConnect. If you like the "ORISE Featurecast," give us a review wherever you listen to podcasts.