Noyce Scholarships
With funding from the Robert Noyce Scholarship program, Washington State University offers scholarships to underrepresented engineering students to encourage them to remain in school an additional year to earn a teaching certificate and return to their home communities as math teachers. These new teachers will be well qualified to teach math, will be mentored, will serve as role models and able to encourage more of their students to pursue professional careers in science and engineering.
Recruiting Efforts
This will be accomplished by targeting recruiting efforts on engineering students from several counties in south central Washington. The average inhabitant of these counties has a substantially smaller income and is much less likely to hold a BS degree than the average Washington State resident. Students who live there are much more likely to be of Hispanic ethnicity than those in other geographic areas of the state and to attend high need schools, the target for the Robert Noyce Scholarship Program.
Desired Impacts
A significant result of this project will be enhanced educational opportunities for students from Hispanic backgrounds. Each of the 12 teachers trained in this program has the possibility of influencing 120 students per year. Over the four years of service required by the grant, teachers trained in this program may influence nearly 6000 students. Moreover, students will benefit from more relevant education (because engineers use math on a daily basis and can provide a real context for lesson topics) and be exposed to professional opportunities that they may not have known about previously.
Program Scope
Research funded by the National Science Foundation.
Duration: 2007-2009
Funding Level: $280,000
Primary Investigators:
- Robert Olsen,
Washington State University - Tariq Akmal ,
Washington State University