Pathways to Improved Representation in Advanced Nuclear Science: Year 2 Status Report

The nEXO group at Skyline College is now well into the second year of our Pathways To Improved Representation In Advanced Nuclear Science project. This program is funded by the US DOE Office of Science (Office of Nuclear Physics) under its Research Traineeships to Broaden and Diversify Nuclear Physics initiative which piloted in 2021. Last year's trainees have all successfully graduated from Skyline and have now begun as upper-level undergaduates in physics or engineering at UC Berkeley. Most of them plan to go on to graduate school after completing their bachelor's degrees. This year we have taken on a fresh cohort of 4 students who are continuing where last year's 4 trainees left off by making helpful contributions to nEXO detector R&D and to nEXO's new DEI initiatives. We have also rolled out a special tutorial workshop on scientific computing with python. This year's student trainees will be presenting posters on their nEXO projects at the 2022 SACNAS Diversity in STEM Conference. A federally recognized Minority Serving Institution (MSI), Skyline College is the only institutional member of nEXO that is a community college. In addition, Skyline stands out among California community colleges as having a vigorous research program, of which this and last year's trainees have been a very active part. In this capacity, our students have engaged in public outreach, contributed to student clubs, and have played important roles in our academic and special-interest learning communities.