Alfred Hall
$3,000,000
Stacey Duhon
Grambling State University
Louisiana
Directorate for STEM Education (EDU)
Hist Black Colleges and Univ
The Historically Black Colleges and Universities - Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP) provides support to strengthen STEM undergraduate education and research at HBCUs. This Implementation Project: Leveraging Innovation and Discovery for STEM Success (LIDSS) is a comprehensive effort at Grambling State University to prepare highly competitive STEM graduates to meet the challenges of an ever-changing world. Discovery and Innovation are the core of the design for each strategic activity. This project aligns with the goals of HBCU-UP in its work to foster STEM student success via its support of faculty research experiences, student support programs, and outreach initiatives for K-12 students and teachers.<br/><br/>The overarching goal of this project is to enhance the ability of Grambling State University to train highly prepared STEM majors to meet workforce needs, while reversing the effects that the pandemic has had on education at all levels. The components of this project were identified using a challenge-based learning approach. STEM faculty and students identified the problems and provided possible solutions. The overall premise is STEM education must not remain static but constantly evolve to meet a changing world. The model used to design each component of this project has discovery and innovation as the core for STEM Learning. The LIDSS project aims to improve the recruitment, retention and graduation of STEM students. A priority will be given to the recruitment of veterans as STEM majors. A STEM Entrepreneurship Academy and a Makers Space will support faculty being able to integrate entrepreneurship within curricula to further nurture the creativity of STEM majors. A Student Success Initiative will be established that will create a judgement free zone where students can enhance skills with assistance from faculty/student leader teams. This project aims to establish partnerships with research intensive institutions to expand the research capacity of STEM faculty through collaboration and mentoring opportunities. The results of this project should be of great interest to educators who also face challenges related to recruiting, retaining and graduating STEM students who are prepared to be innovative leaders. A Biennial Symposium that will focus on the use of innovative educational practices to promote STEM learning will be hosted on campus. Data collected in this project, including the symposia, will advance the knowledge of best practices that will lead to improved STEM programs that are nimble and able to utilize innovative strategies to respond to ever changing needs.<br/><br/>This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.