SOCORRO, N.M. – New Mexico Tech students made a great showing at the annual Great Minds in STEM conference in Orlando in early October, thanks to a new NSF grant.

The NMT contingent of eight students and two professors traveled to the conference thanks to a five-year $1.4 million National Science Foundation grant in the Scholarships in STEM program. That grant funds six NMT students with $10,000 scholarships yearly.

(Pictured at right are Jiwan Chong, Gilbert Carrillo, Tyler Charity, Sylvain Jones (S-STEM program coordinator), Dongwan Shin (S-STEM Program Director), Brandon Montano, John Leonard, and Jen Phifer.)

The Great Minds in STEM conference, or GMIS, included a Hack-a-thon, College Bowl, job fairs, networking events and professional development workshop.

Dr. Dongwan Shin, P.I. for the GMIS program, said the conference was an eye-opening and rewarding experience for the Tech students. Shin and Dr. Subhasish Mazumdar accompanied the students – six sophomores in the GMIS program, plus two graduate students in the Scholarship For Service program.

Brandon Montano was on a team that won the College Bowl. He was “drafted” by Northrup Grumman for the quiz. Jen Phifer was drafted by the Raytheon team and finished fourth. She also landed a summer internship with Raytheon in Tuscon for next summer.

“It was incredible. We learned so much in our few days there,” Montano said. “We repped our school in the Hack-a-thon and in the College Bowl. We did pretty well for New Mexico Tech.”

Jiwan Chang said the conference was a great opportunity to development interpersonal skills.

“It was all about being more open to learning how to network with professionals,” he said. “We were using our soft skills to persuade people.”

Chang said the conference was also especially worthwhile for the networking opportunities and talking to recruiters. Phifer agreed, saying “You sell yourself to a company like an interview. It’s like starting a job and meeting people from all over. “

In addition to funding six NMT students, the S-STEM program is providing funding for two students at San Juan College in Farmington and two students at Eastern New Mexico University-Ruidoso. Those students will transfer to NMT after completing their associate’s degrees.

The S-STEM program will add new cohorts of students each year for the life of the five-year grant. Dr. Shin said he hopes that the S-STEM program becomes a long-term asset at NMT, much like the Scholarship For Service program has provided support for NMT students for more than a decade.

– NMT –