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Texas State U Wins $15 Million To Create STEM Professional Development

Texas State University San Marcos will provide professional development related to science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) for teachers with the help of a $15 million grant from NASA.

"The selection is in response to an Education Opportunities in NASA STEM — Educator Professional Development (EONS-EPD) solicitation issued in March 2014," according to qa news release. "The solicitation challenged minority serving institutions to propose innovative ways to share unique NASA content to enhance STEM educators' professional development."

EONS, according to the solicitation, will focus on:

  • Effective STEM education for K-12 teachers, with a particular focus on individuals from groups typically underrepresented in STEM fields;
  • Improve engagement in STEM and "expand the availability and coherence of investments that 
    increase interest in, involvement in, or value place on STEM by PreK-12 aged 
    individuals (especially those from traditionally underrepresented groups)";
  • Increase retention of undergraduate students with STEM majors in their first two years; and
  • "Increase the number of individuals from underrepresented groups that graduate with STEM degrees."

 

Using the funds, the university "will create experiential learning opportunities for educators, with a strong emphasis on digital technology for accessing and using NASA content," according to information released by the space agency.

Texas State University San Marcos is an emerging research university serving 35,000 students. It is 18th in the nation for Hispanic undergraduate enrollment and 23rd for number of degrees granted to Hispanic students.

About the Author

Joshua Bolkan is contributing editor for Campus Technology, THE Journal and STEAM Universe. He can be reached at [email protected].

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