The NMHU–BioPACIFIC MIP PREM represents a partnership between New Mexico Highlands University (NMHU) and the BioPACIFIC Materials Innovation Platform (MIP) at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). This collaboration is focused on advancing the design, synthesis, and applications of metal-organic hybrid biomaterials while creating pathways to recruit, retain, and graduate students from underrepresented groups in STEM.

NMHU is a small liberal arts university in Northern New Mexico, where 53.6% of the student body identifies as Hispanic American, and 66.4% are women. Many NMHU students are from low-income, first-generation college families. UCSB and UCLA are both prominent research institutions and designated Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), with UCLA expected to achieve this status by 2025. This demographic alignment creates an ideal foundation for a PREM partnership aimed at broadening participation in science and providing advanced materials science education and training to underrepresented students.

The program leverages NMHU’s Achieving in Research, Mathematics, and Science (ARMAS) Center and the BioPACIFIC MIP Summer School to systematically engage high school, undergraduate, and graduate students. Dual-credit programs will encourage high school participation in science education, while undergraduate and master’s students will benefit from new materials science courses at NMHU and hands-on research opportunities at BioPACIFIC MIP. Networking opportunities across all partner institutions will further enhance student professional development, connecting them with faculty, staff, graduate students, and postdocs.

Research at NMHU will be bolstered by access to BioPACIFIC MIP’s advanced instrumentation and scientific expertise, rapidly accelerating the discovery of new materials. Collaborative research teams will hold regular virtual meetings, and NMHU students will travel to BioPACIFIC MIP laboratories for summer research and semester-long exchanges. Faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and students from NMHU will collaborate closely with their counterparts at UCSB and UCLA, fostering a dynamic, interdisciplinary research environment.

By combining the resources of NMHU and the BioPACIFIC MIP, this PREM initiative aims to create a robust pipeline for underrepresented students to thrive in materials science disciplines, enabling meaningful contributions to innovative biomaterials research and preparing them for successful careers in STEM.