Welcome Back Faculty!

It has been quite a productive and exciting summer! The hard work put in by many faculty members on two, big NSF grants have been rewarded. The National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded ASU our “Scholarships in STEM” grant in the amount of $419,520. The grant award will fund scholarships for students to major in chemistry, physics, mathematics or computer science. The project, entitled the Savannah River Scholars Program, is led by Dr. Andy Hauger (Chemistry and Physics) and Dr. Sam Robinson (Mathematics and Computer Science).

The NSF also awarded ASU a Noyce Scholarship grant in the amount of $1,110,509! The Robert Noyce Program for Recruiting and Educating STEM Teachers with Integrated Graduate Enrollment (PRESTIGE) is a high impact, high quality, new program designed to generate student desire to attain K-12 teacher certification through the IMAT program, to recruit the best qualified undergraduate STEM majors for the program, and to place these graduates in “high-need” rural schools. This project will be led by Dr. Steven Page (Teacher Education) and Dr. Chad Stephens (Chemistry and Physics).

These are not the first NSF grants that ASU has received, but these are the largest and will affect a great number of students. Previous NSF grants have been awarded to Dr. Christian Poppeliers and Dr. Trinanjan Datta (Department of Chemistry and Physics) and Dr. Deborah Richardson (Psychology). ASU is beginning to have great success, so keep up the fabulous work!

Also this summer, other faculty have applied for three very large federal grants through the U.S. Department of Education. Dr. Kristin Casaletto (Art/Humanities) and Dr. Rob Bledsoe (English and Foreign Languages/Humanities) applied for a “Fund for the Improvement of Post- Secondary Education (FIPSE)” grant. The project, entitled Adjuncts for Excellence: Cost- Effective Training of Adjuncts for Ongoing Curriculum Revision in the amount of $680,020, is the first ASU proposal to the FIPSE program. Dr. Saundra Reinke (Political Science) applied for a “Centers of Excellence for Veterans Student Success” grant in the amount of $451,164. If funded, this project will support our veteran students. Lastly, Dr. Karen Aubrey and Dr. Cliff Gardiner worked diligently on a “Title III Strengthening Institutions Program” grant in the amount of $1,794,384. The project, entitled Improving Student Success through the Freshman Year Learning Community will be led by Dr. Lee Ann Caldwell (Center for the Study of Georgia History). We are wishing all of these projects a hardy good luck! We hope to continue our streak of success!

Also, all of these projects, funded and proposed, relied on many people for assistance who have not been mentioned above. Thank you to them as well. Successful proposals take teamwork and the people at ASU are great team players.

Creativity, Inquiry, and Discovery:
Undergraduate Research In and Across the Disciplines

The AAC&U Network for Academic Renewal conference, Creativity, Inquiry, and Discovery: Undergraduate Research In and Across the Disciplines, will showcase promising models of undergraduate research. The conference will also help participants address issues related to the sustainability and evolution of this veteran practice. CUR is an academic partner of this important event which will be held in Durham, North Carolina from November 11-13, 2010.

For more information, please visit:
http://www.aacu.org/meetings/undergraduate_research/2010/index.cfm