Marc F. Desrosiers, and Paul D. Lett, today received the Equal Employment Opportunity/Diversity Award from the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Desrosiers, a research chemist, and Lett, a physicist, both work in the NIST Physics Laboratory.
They are being honored for their leadership in directing the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship Program, SURFing the Physics Lab. NIST and the National Science Foundation started this program to encourage outstanding female and minority undergraduate science students to pursue advanced degrees in physics.
Each summer 20 students participate in the SURF program, working one-on-one with world-class atomic, molecular, optical and radiation physicists in projects combining quests for fundamental knowledge with direct applications to problems of national importance.
Desrosiers and Lett bring not only energy and vision to this program, but also highly respected professional reputations which is key to attracting high caliber students and advisors from universities around the United States.
As a non-regulatory agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Technology Administration, NIST strengthens the U.S. economy and improves the quality of life by working with industry to develop and apply technology, measurements and standards through four partnerships: the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, the Measurement and Standards Laboratories, the Advanced Technology Program, and the Baldrige National Quality Program.
