Biomimetic MicroElectronic Systems

Externships for Native American Students

The ERC for Bioimetic MicroElectronic Systems (BMES), headquartered at the University of Southern California (USC), has formed a partnership with Pima Community College (PCC), in Tucson, Arizona. PCC is the only federally-recognized minority-serving institution in Southern Arizona. In 2004, BMES created a pilot program that brought two PCC students to USC for two weeks during the summer. Kerbie Henry, of the Navajo Nation, and Augustine Toro, of the Tohono O'Odham Nation, were students in PCC's Center for Business Solutions (CBS). Each was selected by CBS's Division Dean, Linda Andrews, to participate in the inaugural externship. Dean Andrews oversees a planning grant awarded to CBS by the Office of Naval Research, which allows PCC to provide scholarships in the disciplines of Science, Mathematics, and Engineering for underrepresented minorities and, in particular, Native Americans.

In summer 2005 two more PCC Native American students, Tatiana Halwood and Walter Jacobson, participated in the externship program. The Center's Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program coordinator and students worked closely with Tatiana and Walter to incorporate them into the REU team. Both of these students plan to attend medical school and are interested in research. Both are majoring in molecular and cell biology in a joint program between PCC and the University of Arizona.

The experiences that these Native American students gained during the summer ranged from exposure to the reality of life in an urban metropolis to research at a world-class institution. They stayed in on-campus housing, toured University Park and Health Sciences campuses and hospitals, and shadowed researchers in BMES, learning first-hand about the Center's cortical prosthesis testbed. Augustine and Kerbie participated in a Viterbi School of Engineering career counseling workshop and attended a lecture by BMES ERC Industrial Liaison Officer Dr. Howard Phillips—who proved a particularly inspiring role model, as he is a Native American himself. (A member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, Dr. Phillips is the only member of his tribe known to have earned an advanced degree in engineering.) Tatiana and Walter also met with Dr. Phillips, observed procedures related to the Retinal Prosthesis Testbed in the vivarium, met retinal implant patient Terry Byland, mentored Murchison Elementary students alongside REU and STAR students for BMES's Summer Science Day, participated in the Bioethics Workshop taught by Dr. Frances Richmond, and received individual pre-med advising at the Keck School of Medicine.

BMES plans to continue this collaboration on an annual basis for the duration of the Center, with the long-term goal of institutionalizing the program. In December 2005, the Center hosted Dean Andrews on campus to visit with BMES administration, meet key faculty members, and tour its USC and Caltech campuses and laboratories, giving her a first-hand sense of what her students have been experiencing at the BMES ERC at USC.

To learn more about this topic:
Visit the education and outreach page at the Center for Biomimetic
MicroElectronic Systems at: http://bmes-erc.usc.edu/eop.htm

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Tatiana Halwood and Walter Jacobson, two Native
American engineering students who participated in the
BMES ERC's externship program.

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Last modified: January 2, 2007