YSU Professor Gets NSF Grant to Study Success of Nontraditional Students

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The National Science Foundation has awarded an additional $300,000 to a Youngstown State University professor whose research focuses on the success of nontraditional students in engineering programs.

Cory Brozina, a professor in the Rayen School of Engineering at YSU, was named the recipient of a $1 million NSF grant last fall. That award was focused on increasing enrollment and graduation of undergraduate commuter students with financial needs.

In a statement, Brozina said the study will help create guidelines for improving the success of nontraditional students in engineering. It will examine three primary questions: 

What is the holistic experience of current nontraditional students in engineering?

How do nontraditional students in engineering engage with co-curricular supports as they progress through their degree program? What impact do nontraditional student characteristics have on student integration and student success?

Brozina is director of first-year engineering at Youngstown State and said the three-year project will contribute to an under-studied area of academia.

Brozina joined the YSU faculty in 2016 after earning bachelor’s, master’s and a doctorate from Virginia Tech. It is Brozina’s third NSF grant since coming to YSU. He also received $65,930 from the foundation in Fall 2019 to researching innovative approaches to collecting, analyzing and archiving empirical data related to engineering practice.

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Nov. 30: YSU Prof Gets $1M NSF Grant to Develop Commuter Engineering Students

Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.