¡MIRA! SCHOLARS

What is the ¡MIRA! Scholars Program?

The ¡MIRA! Scholars program provides students opportunities to build hands-on skills and gain invaluable research experience to develop our nation’s highly skilled workforce. This materials science research internship for undergraduate students is competitively awarded, gets students into labs, and pays them for it. We understand that not all students can accept a non-paid research internship, so ¡MIRA! Scholars removes barriers and equalizes this opportunity.

“I've always known that research would be a big part of my career, the question I had was what the research would be exactly. This program provided me with a new experience in a research field that I have long considered. I also got to meet with other people who are already in the research fields that I am considering and I got to learn through their experience. This has helped me narrow down my interests and helped me identify which research fields would be the best for me.”

Agustine Garcia Flores

Spring 2022 ¡MIRA! Scholar

Join a ¡MIRA! Scientist’s Lab

Gain invaluable research experience

Work 15-20 Hours Per Week

Project must be in Materials Science

No Lab Experience Required

All undergrad STEM majors welcome to apply

How to Apply:

Applications are currently closed.
This page will be updated when our application season opens again.

How to Donate:

All donations go directly to supporting student salaries. We support students through the application and research process, offering hands-on help in identifying and connecting the student with mentors that enable their success now and in the future. As ¡MIRA! is a high-impact materials science and diversity center, students join a team and learn how to increase diversity in STEM.

What is Materials Science?

Materials science is interdisciplinary and collaborative, spanning biology, chemistry, and physics to engineering and medicine.

According to industry analysts, materials science may be the most important technology of the next decade. By vastly accelerating our ability to create advanced materials to power industries from energy to medicine, revolutionary materials research has already had a significant impact—from saving the environment to bringing renewable energy technologies to market to creating materials for new bone and cartilage implants—and there’s no limit to what we can achieve in the future.

Materials science is one of the fastest-growing industries in Arizona. This interdisciplinary field focuses on creating and using materials with optimized usage based on their specific properties. Discoveries abound in specialized areas using biomaterials, plastics, ceramics, metal, or electrical materials. Jobs can be found in many industries from aerospace to microelectronics.