Postdoctoral research program expanding to 6 national laboratories

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The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management is expanding a postdoctoral research program to six national laboratories, including the Savannah River National Laboratory.

The Minority Serving Institutions Partnership Program, which will be managed by SRNL, aims to connect qualified candidates graduating with Ph.D.s from the nation’s 700 minority serving institutions to national lab positions to address environmental, energy and national security challenges. The program will offer the opportunity for cutting-edge scientific research and technical work as well as publication in peer-reviewed journals.

“Expansion of the Minority Serving Institutions Partnership Program postdoctoral research program to serve six of the nation’s laboratories is a key step toward ensuring that the DOE and its national laboratories have a diverse and highly qualified talent pool from which to develop its current and future workforce,” Nicole Nelson-Jean, associate principal deputy assistant secretary for field operations for the Office of Environmental Management, said in a news release.

Postdoctoral researchers participating in the program will work as full-time employees at one of the six labs for two years. The other participating labs are: Argone National Laboratory, Idaho National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. 

“The Minority Serving Institutions Partnership Program promotes the education and development of the next generation workforce in critical science, engineering, technology, and math to further enable current and future missions of the DOE national laboratories,” Sue Clark, SRNL deputy director of science and technology, said. “We’re excited and honored to lead this program for the Department of Energy.”