The graduate education division of the National Science Foundation (NSF), and through its GK-12 program, has awarded a $3 million grant to a multidisciplinary research team at Stevens Institute of Technology, which will partner with Bergen Community College to help ensure the project's success. The College will work with a teaching fellow from Stevens.
Over a period of five years, the project will provide fellowships to 10 Stevens doctoral students per year (nine during the first year) who will conduct research in the area of multiscale engineered systems. Working closely with high school teachers, the students will disseminate their research results to several participating high schools within the framework of the New Jersey Alliance for Engineering Education (NJAEE). The Alliance brings a diverse set of high schools throughout New Jersey together with faculty, researchers, and graduate students from Stevens and educators from Bergen and other institutions.
"We are pleased to have a role in this project with Stevens Institute of Technology," Bergen President G. Jeremiah Ryan said. "To have the opportunity to assist a teaching fellow with an interest in education remains important; it is the kind of regional partnership we are eagerly trying to secure for Bergen Community College."
In addition to their doctoral research, the fellows, devoting 10 hours per week during the academic year within a high school setting, will collaborate closely with engineering professors, education professionals, and high school teachers to design, develop, implement and help deliver motivating educational modules that are based on their research work, with the aim of motivating the next generation of students to pursue careers in STEM fields.
The outreach component of this project will positively affect approximately 11,700 high school students and provide considerable professional development opportunities to 130 participating high school teachers. Through the project, a sustainable model for a graduate education certificate program "Teaching and Learning in STEM Disciplines" will be developed assessed, and disseminated nationwide, as a supplement to traditional doctoral student technical training in engineering.
The public schools participating in the project include Jersey City Public Schools, Bayonne Public School District, Hoboken Public Schools, North Brunswick and Robbinsville High School, Mercer County-Washington Township Public Schools, Ridgewood Public Schools, Great Meadows Regional School District, and Bergen County Academies.
About Bergen Community College
Bergen Community College is a public two-year coeducational college, enrolling more than 15,000 students in Associate in Arts, Associate in Science, and Associate in Applied Science degree programs, and certificate programs. More than 10,000 students are enrolled in non-credit, professional courses through the Division of Continuing Education, the Institute for Learning in Retirement, and the Philip J. Ciarco Jr. Learning Center, located at 355 Main Street, Hackensack. Information about the College is available at http://www.bergen.edu or by phoning the Welcome Center at 201-447-7200.
Comments (0)
Greater Paramus News and Lifestyle Magazine
http://www.paramuspost.com/article.php/20080328110610230