Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock (
) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.
NIST Professional Research Experience Program (PREP)
About the Program
Created by NIST Boulder in 1991, the Professional Research Experience Program (PREP) is designed to provide valuable laboratory experience and financial assistance to undergraduates, graduate students, postdocs, and faculty. The program is intended to assure continued growth and progress of a highly skilled science, technology, engineering, math (STEM) workforce in the United States.
PREP is a 5-year cooperative agreement between NIST laboratories and participating PREP Universities to establish a collaborative research relationship between NIST and U.S. institutions of higher education in the following disciplines including (but may not be limited to) biochemistry, biological sciences, chemistry, computer science, engineering, electronics, materials science, mathematics, nanoscale science, neutron science, physical science, physics, and statistics.
Participating NIST Laboratories and User Facilities
PREP researchers contribute to on-going research in the NIST laboratories at PREP Boulder (operating on the Boulder, Colorado site) or PREP Gaithersburg (operating at the Gaithersburg, Maryland and Charleston, South Carolina sites). You are encouraged to visit the laboratory's webpages to learn about the multi-disciplinary nature of the NIST laboratories and laboratory facilities.
- Communications Technology Laboratory (CTL)
- Engineering Laboratory (EL)
- Information Technology Laboratory (ITL)
- Material Measurement Laboratory (MML)
- Physical Measurement Laboratory (PML)
- Center for Neutron Research (NCNR)
- Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology (CNST)
Participating PREP Universities
PREP operates two distinct sub-programs. The following PREP universities were selected based on the criteria mentioned in the Notice of Funding Opportunity .
PREP Boulder
-
Brown University
-
Colorado School of Mines
-
University of Colorado Boulder
-
University of Colorado Denver
PREP Gaithersburg
-
Brown University
-
Georgetown University
-
JUMBO Consortium (Johns Hopkins University, Morgan State University, and State University of New York Binghamton)
-
Montgomery College
-
Towson University
-
University of the District of Columbia
-
University of Maryland College Park
PREP Researcher Appointments
PREP is a competitive program and driven by demand of the NIST laboratories. Generally, the request starts with NIST having an opportunity and funding for a researcher. NIST partners with the PREP Universities to advertise and recruit for the appointments.
As required by the NOFO, PREP researchers are required to be affiliated with a participating university. PREP appointments occur by the following mechanisms:
- Recruitment by a participating university for a NIST opportunity
-
Proposal of a research opportunity which aligns with the NIST mission and skillset to a NIST scientist directly.
PREP Researcher Categories
Following are the categories of researchers that can be appointed by the PREP Universities:
-
Undergraduates
-
Post-Bachelor’s Degree
-
Graduate Students
-
Master’s Degree Holders
-
Postdocs
-
Research faculty
Still have questions? See the FAQ's or send an e-mail to prep@nist.gov.
Five of the PREP postdocs currently working in MML on the Gaithersburg campus (from left): Jasjeet Bhullar, Sarah Robinson, Caglar Emiroglu, Adam Hannon and Huong Giang Nguyen.
Contacts
-
(301) 975-2371
-
(301) 975-2471