Search this site

Graduate Student Graduate Student ⬅️ All Members Mary Ma Graduate Student Publications Impacts I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title Previous Next Duke University

Extending programming to peer centers, partner institutions, and professional societies nationwide. Broader Impacts Broadening Participation Participation Beyond NSF MONET Participation Beyond NSF MONET Building capacity the field can reuse The U.S. National Science Foundation Center for Molecularly Optimized Networks (NSF MONET) treats broadening participation as infrastructure, not outreach. A single center can train the people inside it; a center that shares its methods changes how the field trains everyone. Since 2024, NSF MONET has deliberately exported its programming — its recruitment model, its professional development framework, and its scientific communication training — to other U.S. National Science Foundation Centers for Chemical Innovation (NSF CCIs), to Historically Black Colleges and Universities, to the Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) network, and to national professional societies. Every activity below is documented, dated, and externally partnered. Shared recruitment across federally funded centers Rather than compete for the same prospective graduate students, NSF MONET pioneered a joint NSF CCI presence at the SACNAS National Diversity in STEM (NDiSTEM) Conference. In 2024 in Phoenix, Arizona, Directors of Broader Impacts from NSF MONET, the Center for Synthetic Organic Electrochemistry, and the Center for the Mechanical Control of Chemistry staffed a single exhibit-hall footprint representing all three centers. The model was repeated in Columbus, Ohio in 2025, where the joint booth reached more than 1,000 prospective researchers with graduate research and training opportunities across the NSF CCI portfolio. One booth, three centers, a national applicant pool — a cost-efficient recruitment structure any center network can copy.⁠⁠⁠⁠ Programming that outlives the conference At NDiSTEM 2025, NSF MONET led the symposium Transforming STEM Through Broader Impacts: Strategies for Cultural Relevance , convening more than 75 students, postdoctoral scholars, and STEM professionals from the University of Guam, The College of New Jersey, the University of Nevada–Las Vegas, and two NSF CCIs. The session was subsequently adapted into an episode of the Science with Impact podcast, converting a 90-minute room into a permanent, openly accessible resource.⁠⁠ Frameworks adopted by peer centers The clearest evidence of transferability is demand from peers. In October 2025, the NSF MONET Director of Broader Impacts delivered a 90-minute workshop on the Center's Special Professional Development Experience (SPDE) framework to 26 Education Directors representing all 20 NSF MRSECs — the entire national MRSEC education leadership cohort in one room. This is measurable progress toward the Center's stretch goal of having its frameworks adopted or adapted by at least ten external institutions, centers, or organizations by 2030.⁠⁠ That exchange continues center-to-center. In July 2026, NSF MONET delivered a virtual elevator-pitch workshop training partner-center trainees to translate complex molecular research into audience-focused explanations of societal benefit.⁠⁠ In August 2026, NSF MONET co-hosted the NSF Centers for Chemical Innovation Collaborative Coffee Hour at the American Chemical Society (ACS) Fall National Meeting in Chicago with the Center for Synthetic Organic Electrochemistry and the Center for Computer-Assisted Synthesis, creating cross-center connections among trainees who would otherwise never meet.⁠⁠ Institutional partnerships with staying power NSF MONET Senior Investigator Dr. Juana Mendenhall chaired the 2024 SERMACS symposium on effective and innovative partnerships at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and in March 2025 presented at HBCU Engage on building bidirectional partnerships in chemistry and nanoscience that strengthen student engagement and faculty development at both partner institutions.⁠⁠⁠⁠ The Center also supports the Polymer Women Empowerment & Research (PoWER) conference, which drew more than 100 participants to Northwestern University in 2024 under NSF MONET Senior Investigators Julia Kalow and Monica Olvera de la Cruz, and returned May 21–22, 2026 at the University of Toronto with Professor Kalow again serving as an organizer — a two-cycle commitment to sustained technical training and mentorship in polymer science.⁠⁠⁠⁠ Connecting training to careers NSF MONET leadership delivered a featured talk at the ACS Women in the Chemical Enterprise networking breakfast at ACS Spring 2025,⁠⁠ and in February 2026 the Beyond the Beaker: Building Purpose-Driven STEM Careers symposium reached approximately 100 undergraduates with concrete guidance on translating a chemistry degree into high-demand skills and public value.⁠⁠ Why this matters Across twelve documented activities in its most recent three years, NSF MONET has moved from participating in the national conversation to supplying the tools other centers use to conduct it: a shared recruitment model, a professional development framework requested by an entire federal center network, and communication training exported to partner centers. The Center's reach is no longer bounded by its own institutions — which is precisely the point. Previous Next

Graduate Student Graduate Student ⬅️ All Members Devosmita Sen Graduate Student Publications Impacts I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title Previous Next Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Undergraduate Researcher Undergraduate Researcher ⬅️ All Members Sebastian Pujet Undergraduate Researcher Publications Impacts I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title Previous Next Washington University in St. Louis

Alumni Alumni ⬅️ All Members Shu Wang Alumni Publications Impacts I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title Previous Next Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Graduate Student Graduate Student ⬅️ All Members Sunay Dilara Ekim Graduate Student Publications Impacts I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title Previous Next University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Alumni Alumni ⬅️ All Members Tetsu Ouchi Alumni Publications Impacts I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title Previous Next Louisiana State University

Postdoctoral Researcher Postdoctoral Researcher ⬅️ All Members Chuting Deng Postdoctoral Researcher Publications Impacts I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title Previous Next Northwestern University

Undergraduate Researcher Undergraduate Researcher ⬅️ All Members Brogan Dietsche Undergraduate Researcher Publications Impacts I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title Previous Next University of Wisconsin-Madison

Undergraduate Researcher Undergraduate Researcher ⬅️ All Members Chinyere (Connie) Okeke Undergraduate Researcher Publications Impacts I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title Previous Next Washington and Lee University

Alumni Alumni ⬅️ All Members Kelsie Wentz Alumni Publications Impacts I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title Previous Next Indiana University

Alumni Alumni ⬅️ All Members Curt Waltmann Alumni Publications Impacts I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title I'm an image title Previous Next