Group photo of NoVEL Consortium students, faculty, staff, and LLNL collaborators from the 2026 Spring NoVEL Retreat hosted by ECSU.
Consortium for Research and Education in Materials Science and Photonics Engineering (NoVEL Consortium)
The Consortium for Research and Education in Materials Science and Photonics Engineering (NoVEL Consortium) aims to strengthen the research and education capabilities of Norfolk State University, Virginia State University, and Elizabeth City State University through research areas of Materials Science and Photonics, topics of interest to the National Nuclear Enterprise (NSE), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Sandia Nation Laboratories (SNL), and the National Ignition Facility (NIF).
The partnership between these HBCUs, LLNL, and SNL provides STEM students who have been overlooked by the traditional academic pipeline with career-readiness skills through professional development activities and cutting-edge research experiences at their home institution, as well as internships through LLNL and SNL. Many of our students have gone on to successfully participate in external internships and received graduate program offers and employment opportunities.
In the past, we have partnered with local high school STEM teachers through our EMERGE program to increase exposure of pre-college students to the possibilities of employment at LLNL and other government Laboratories, and recruited them to participate in NoVEL.
For more information please contact, NoVEL Executive Director, Dr. Ashleigh K Wilson, akwilson@nsu.edu.