Florida International University (FIU), the largest Hispanic serving educational institution in the continental United States, is one of the nation’s leading producers of scientists and engineers from underrepresented groups. In 1995, the U.S. Department of Energy Environmental Management (DOE-EM) formed a unique partnership with FIU to support environmental cleanup technology development, testing and deployment at DOE sites. This partnership led to the creation of a research center at FIU dedicated to applied, environmental R&D. The center, now known as the Applied Research Center (ARC), has tackled and helped solve problems at 11 DOE sites.  The partnership with DOE EM supported the hands on training of 824 FIU students from 1995 – 2006.  ARC is located at FIU's College of Engineering and Computing and is equipped with state-of-the-art laboratories and facilities for conducting scientific R&D and for testing, evaluating, and validating new and innovative environmental technologies.

The DOE-FIU Science and Technology Workforce Development Initiative is an innovative program between the US Department of Energy's Office of Environmental Management (DOE-EM) and Florida International University's Applied Research Center designed to create a “pipeline” of minority engineers specifically trained and mentored to enter the Department of Energy workforce in technical areas of need. This innovative program was designed to help address DOE’s future workforce needs by partnering with academic, government and DOE contractor organizations to mentor future minority scientists and engineers in the research, development, and deployment of new technologies addressing DOE’s environmental cleanup challenges.  Students selected as DOE Fellows will perform research at FIU and at a DOE site.  Upon graduation and completion of this fellowship, the students will submit an application to join the DOE EM Professional Development Corps (PDC) . 

The DOE-FIU Science and Engineering Workforce Development Initiative is designed to build upon existing DOE/FIU relationship by creating a “pipeline” of minority engineers specifically trained and mentored to enter the Department of Energy workforce in technical areas of need. The main objective of the program is to provide interested students with a unique opportunity to integrate course work, Department of Energy (DOE) field work, and applied research work at FIU into a well structured academic program that leads to entry into DOE’s Career Internship Program.

Build upon FIU’s long research relationship with the Dept. of Energy to create a “pipeline” of minority, environmental engineers and scientists.

• Provide top quality minority students with a unique opportunity for hands-on research and a career
• Enhance quality of student, faculty & staff R&D through close collaborations with scientists from national labs
• Stimulate greater numbers of minority students entering STEM disciplines at grad and undergrad levels