- Year 2024
- NSF Noyce Award # 2243328
- First Name Laura
- Last Name Lorentzen
- Registration Faculty/Administrator/Other
- Discipline Chemistry, Life Sciences, Mathematics, Other:Earth Science, STEM Education (general)
- Role Principal Investigator (PI)
- Presenters
Laura Lorentzen, Gail Verdi, Louis Beaugris, Pat McDermitt, Kean University
Need
To create a sustainable pipeline of high school students from underrepresented communities to pursue a STEM education major in college, and then enter the teaching profession.
Research Questions
What challenges and opportunities are there in launching a Noyce Track 1 Scholarship Program at a public, urban, Hispanic Servicing Institute (HSI) of higher education?What strategies are sustainable for recruitment among high schoolers and college students to major in STEM education?
Approach
The first year of the Track 1 Noyce Scholarship Program at our university entailed extensive collaboration with academic as well as administrative and legal shareholders across campus as well as extended off campus to the partner school districts.
Outcomes
Tomorrow’s Teachers Program and Kean University now partner in both Union School District and Lakewood School District in New Jersey to attract high schoolers to major in STEM education in college. Our university has launched the Track 1 Noyce Scholarship Program and recruited its first cohort of scholars who will be college juniors this fall.
Broader Impacts
The first cohort of Noyce scholars will be mentored by university faculty and high school lead teachers alongside curriculum encompassing culturally responsive pedagogical practices. The expansion of Tomorrow’s Teachers Program to a second school district in partnership with our university enables direct engagement with urban high school students.
