NSF Awards Kent State $1.6M for Teacher Retention, Studies
KENT, Ohio – The National Science Foundation has awarded three grants totaling $1.6 million to projects at Kent State University.
The bulk of the funding, $1 million, is going toward the retention of newly hired secondary teachers in the STEM fields – science, technology, engineering and math – for high-needs settings.
The second grant, for $550,000, will develop a zero-power optical sensor platform for detecting toxic gases. And the final grant, for $80,145, will fund an interdisciplinary study of archaeology, materials sciences, adhesive engineering and the morphometrics – the study of space and form – to help build the understanding of how early humans used behavioral and technological adaptions as they spread across the planet.
“These three awards underscore the high regard in which KSU researchers are viewed by their national colleagues and further highlight the breadth of discovery occurring at Kent State,” said Douglas L. Delahanty, interim vice president for research and sponsored programs at Kent State, in a statement. “From analyzing ancient artifacts in order to understand how prehistoric people adhered tools together to enhancing resilience in secondary science teachers to developing new sensors for toxic gases, our faculty are engaged in addressing questions of immense societal relevance, and, perhaps more importantly, providing opportunities for students of all levels to engage in life-changing research experiences.”
The results of the studies will be permantently available and freely accessible in the Open Science Framework for use in public education and outreach activities.
“I commend Kent State University’s commitment not only to research, but to sharing the results of that research on public platforms making it available to others,” said U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan. “The research done at Kent State is a great benefit to their students and to our wider community. I will always support these types of investments that help our community continue to thrive.”
Image via Kentstate1910, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
