Grants to Also Address Student Retention, High School Teacher Research Education
The University of Houston Cullen College of Engineering has received close to $2 million in grants this month from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to retain and recruit engineering students, and to expose high school teachers to research.
The grants are a part of the foundation's efforts to boost national graduation rates in the areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), said Stuart Long, associate dean for educational activities.
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| Stuart Long Associate Dean for Education Activities and Principal Investigator for the STEP Project |
On a national average only two out of every 100 high school graduates go on to complete a college engineering degree, said Raymond Flumerfelt, dean of the Cullen College of Engineering. “The NSF grants represent the latest step in our efforts to enhance our engineering curriculum and increase the pool of prospective students,” said Flumerfelt.
A five-year, $1.5 million NSF grant will fund “STEP - AHEAD: Access to Higher Education through Academic Retention and Development at the University of Houston,” which will spawn an assortment of programs featuring highly interactive and collaborative learning methods. The grant builds upon previous success within the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, which laid the groundwork with its Redshirt Camps and workshops. These programs encourage students to teach each other while instructors facilitate the learning process. In addition, ‘GRADE’ Camp (Girls Reaching and Demonstrating Excellence in Engineering), which garnered much popularity with its summer 2003 attendees, their teachers and parents, will continue to introduce high school females to the excitement of studying engineering.
A second proposal that received funding from NSF, the “Research Experience for Greater Houston Science and Math Teachers” (RET), is a $435,000 summer research program designed to infuse 12 bright teachers with enthusiasm toward research that is subsequently shared with their respective high school classes during the school year. Participants will make important contributions to the department’s ongoing research efforts.
“With the additional NSF grant, we will also develop a program for high school teachers to broaden their knowledge of research and engineering. Key to our success and our profession’s future success will be our ability to excite students about engineering as a field of study and career,” said Flumerfelt. Long is the principal investigator for the STEP project; Fritz Claydon, chair of the department of electrical and computer engineering, is principal investigator for the RET project. Long and Claydon—along with Program Director Jenny Ruchhoeft, who manages both programs—are working with a number of faculty members in the college to fully implement these newly funded programs.