Our Mission:

The University of Florida Center for Precollegiate Education and Training (UF CPET) has the mission to articulate and transfer current research by connecting UF researchers with secondary school teachers and students in a variety of collaborative campus and state-wide science, technology, engineering, math, and medicine (STEMM) programs. CPET collaborates annually with faculty researchers from STEMM disciplines across campus and beyond to offer: mentored research to talented high school students; content-rich laboratory-based Institutes and classroom action research follow-up to teachers; partnerships to help schools provide enhanced STEMM education and career exploration; professional development to UF graduate students; and assistance to faculty for effective outreach and dissemination of their research, how and why they do it, and its societal impacts. CPET's role is to provide the infrastructure and expertise to design, facilitate and assess research education and outreach, especially to those in underserved populations, including opportunities uniting STEM and the Humanities/Art; thus CPET staff create, administer and/or coordinate programs that collaborate with multiple colleges, schools, organizations or individuals working to attract, prepare and retain students in STEM and health-related college courses and careers.

Our programs are developed and coordinated to meet five goals:

• The promotion of excellence in STEMM
• The fostering of interdisciplinary STEMM education throughout university research centers
• The forging of partnerships among researchers, schools, communities and industries
• The continual integration of research process and product knowledge with National Education Goals
• The fostering of the skills of research students, graduate students and faculty to bring their work to the public (Broader Impacts)