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$5 Million From U.S. Department of ED to Skyrocket STEM at Northwest Vista College

STEM programs at Northwest Vista College (NVC) are prepared to skyrocket learning in the science, technology, engineering, and math fields and help students rebound from the pandemic with a little over $5 million in federal grants awarded to the college recently.

As many as 40 students per semester will be able to participate in research internships and earn up to $4,200 in a stipend as part of the PLUS+STEM Project to help alleviate the burden of paying for education while they get work experience in the industry. This is the largest grant ever received by NVC. Additionally, NVC is partnering under St. Mary’s University on a grant project funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to increase the transfer and retention rates of Hispanic students majoring in STEM fields.

PLUS+STEM Project

The Hispanic Serving Institutions: Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (HSI STEM) & Articulation Program grant from the U.S. Department of Education (ED) was awarded to implement the PLUS+STEM Project (Portal Leading to Undergraduate Success in Science, Technology, Engineering & Math), created by NVC faculty members Dr. Prakash Nair, project director/principle investigator, and Dr. Claudia Verdin and Dr. Thomas Pressly, co-principle investigators.

The purpose of the HSI STEM & Articulation Program, according to the ED website, “is to increase the number of Hispanic and low-income students attaining degrees in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and math; and to develop model transfer and articulation agreements between two-year HSIs and four-year institutions in such fields.”

“PLUS+STEM will help NVC close academic achievement gaps for underrepresented students and encourage life-long STEM learning,” said NVC President Dr. Ric Baser.

“We know the STEM fields will help students get into productive careers, and programs like PLUS+STEM will give access to many of our students who often don’t get the same opportunities as their peers,” added Baser.

According to the City of San Antonio Office of Equity Hispanics & STEM, “Wage, employment, health, and education gaps by race are not only bad for people of color — they are bad for everyone, and these gaps slow the growth of the entire economy.”

The report found Hispanics make up 25% of U.S. students and “currently comprise 17% of the workforce overall but merely 8% of the STEM workforce.” Hispanics students report low confidence in taking STEM courses, especially Hispanic females, who are about 7% of the workforce, but less that 2% are in STEM fields.

“With our leading-edge Cedar Elm STEM Center’s anticipated opening next year and this exceptional grant award, NVC will further strengthen San Antonio’s economic growth in science and technology fields,” said Baser.

Students will benefit from the PLUS+STEM Project through workshops, tutoring, paid research internships, the aforementioned stipends of up to $4,200, advanced STEM equipment, mentoring, symposiums, mental health support and high school outreach.

Through this project NVC will also work with area four-year universities to create a smoother transfer process for NVC STEM students seeking to advance their educational careers.

“Our goal is to create awareness about STEM career paths, and help the students succeed in their college STEM classes by providing necessary skills and guidance. In the end, we want to have them succeed in their STEM careers,” said Nair.

Project FUERTE

The NSF’s Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Program grant awarded to St. Mary’s will help implement Project FUERTE: Fostering Undergraduate Education, Retention and Transfer Environments. The purpose of the grant is to increase the Latinx STEM field transfer to and graduation rate from St. Mary’s University.

Dr. Juan Ocampo, associate professor of Mechanical Engineering at St. Mary’s University, will serve as the principle investigator (PI) for the entire grant project. Dr. Thomas Pressly, coordinator of the NVC Engineering program, will serve as the NVC principle investigator, coordinating curriculum alignment efforts, enhancements of transfer agreements, faculty training, and curriculum development in the NVC STEM areas.

Dr. Mary Zocchi, with her vast background in STEM education and NSF experience, will serve as the NVC co-principle investigator, and will collect and analyze the data outcomes from the NVC research side, conduct student focus groups, and work with St Mary’s to develop the andragogical (the methods or techniques used to adult education) strategies and the design of the educational environment. Learn more here.

National Science Foundation Geology Grant

NVC will partner under UTSA in a National Science Foundation grant targeted to create more awareness of geology fields and careers, and a make a smoother transfer process for NVC’s students wishing to pursue geology studies at UTSA. NVC’s Geology Coordinator Dustin Smyth will lead the NVC efforts on this grant.

College Readiness and Completion Models Grant

NVC was recently awarded a $100,000 grant to help students take advantage of supplemental instruction/tutoring and academic support embedded in co-requisite courses. The goals of the 2021 College Readiness and Completion Models Program is to implement, enhance, and scale best practices that impact college readiness and completion. This grant will also help students navigate learning in a COVID-environment. It will connect students to college resources and equip them with better organizational and academic skills through one-on-one mentoring sessions and weekly group workshops facilitated by an academic peer coach. NVC’s Caroline Kuyumcuoglu will help lead this grant’s efforts. Learn more here.

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