Promoting Undergraduate Minority Persistence in Nuclear Physics at TUNL

In 2022, North Carolina Central University (NCCU) with partner institutions Duke University (Duke), University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) and North Carolina State University (NCSU) started a DOE sponsored Research Traineeship to Broaden and Diversify Nuclear Physics at TUNL with 6 students from regional Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs). For many years, the Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory (TUNL) has hosted a diverse group of undergraduate students for summer research activities. Informally, students from NCCU and North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (NCA&T) both Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) participated in summer internships along with students from various backgrounds across the country. This year, participants of this traineeship program from Florida Memorial University, Fisk University and NCCU were mentored by faculty from Duke, UNC, and NCSU to conduct a summer-long research experience at TUNL. This talk will present the research projects and the professional development activities the students were involved in, feedback from the students, and lessons learned with improvements for the second year of the program.