ASU NRT at the NSF Research Traineeship Annual Meeting

Each year, the NSF Research Traineeship (NRT) Annual Meeting brings together a national community of principal investigators, co-PIs, project coordinators, evaluators, and graduate student trainees to share progress, exchange ideas, and strengthen the interdisciplinary research education ecosystem. This year, the 2026 meeting was held at Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado, and our NRT team was there to represent ASU.

Representing ASU’s NRT Program

Our project coordinator, Roxana Sánchez Servin de la Mora, attended the meeting to present the latest advances of our NRT program in Medical Device Manufacturing & Design. The conference provided an excellent opportunity to connect with colleagues from across the country, learn about innovations in graduate education, and share the interdisciplinary model we have been building at Arizona State University.

A Proud Moment: Mia Nguyen’s Poster Presentation

One of the highlights of our participation was graduate trainee Mia Nguyen’s poster presentation. Mia had the opportunity to share her research with fellow trainees, faculty, and NSF program officers and received thoughtful, valuable feedback that will strengthen her work going forward.

Presenting research at a national conference is a milestone in any graduate student’s journey, and seeing Mia step into that role with confidence and skill was a proud moment for our entire NRT community.

Building Networks, Sharing Ideas

Sessions at the Annual Meeting are designed to share best practices in interdisciplinary graduate education, build networks of researchers and practitioners, promote graduate student development, and enhance the scholarly impact of NRT projects across the country. Our team brought back new perspectives, connections, and ideas that will continue to shape the NRT experience at ASU.

We are grateful to the NSF and to Colorado School of Mines for hosting such a rich and inspiring gathering. And we are incredibly proud of Mia and Roxana for representing our program so beautifully. This is what the NRT mission looks like in action.