A partnership between North Carolina Agricultural and Technical (A&T) State University and the University of California San Diego (UCSD) brought together students and researchers this summer for a hands-on exchange that combined science, mentorship, and collaboration.

The visit, part of the NSF PREM (Partnerships for Research and Education in Materials) program, allowed 12 A&T students to spend several weeks conducting research at UCSD through the Research Immersion in Materials Science and Engineering (RIMSE) summer initiative led by UCSD professor Andrea Tao, Co-PI on the CREAM PREM project.

Funded by the UCSD MRSEC and the University of California system, RIMSE was originally designed to support just a few participants. “It was supposed to fund seven or eight students,” said Dhananjay Kumar, A&T professor and PI on the CREAM award. “But a lot of students from A&T applied—and everybody who applied got in.”

The program offered intensive laboratory experience and exposure to graduate-level research environments. “The combination of the PREM grant and UC support allowed us to expand RIMSE substantially, to where it now engages more than 80 students each year,” said Tao.

The collaboration builds on complementary expertise in plasmonic materials, biomaterials, and two-dimensional chalcogenides. A&T leads research in materials synthesis and characterization, while UCSD contributes strengths in biomaterials and optical measurements. Joint supervision of graduate students and co-authored publications continue to deepen the partnership.

“We have to keep working—research is our battleground,” Kumar said.