Improving Research and Technology Experiences of MVSU STEM Undergraduates

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With the support of the National Science Foundation (NSF) through the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP), Mississippi Valley State University (MVSU) will implement the project Improving Research and Technology Experiences of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Undergraduates. The overall goal of project is an increase in the production of well-prepared, competitively trained minority graduates who enter the workforce or pursue graduate studies in STEM disciplines. The target population will be faculty and students within the Departments of Mathematics, Computer and Information Sciences (MCIS) and Natural Science and Environmental Health (NSEH). Broader impact of project: The project will integrate significant research activities into the education of STEM majors who can adequately compete with students from large research universities. Students will participate in conferences and research activites that are not normally available to MVSU students. The project will also significantly enhance the infrastructure for research and education of MVSU through faculty development efforts, which are the key to sustaining the long-term production of highly trained minority STEM graduates. The results of the project will be disseminated through oral presentations at both national and local conferences, articles in research journals, and web distribution. Intellectual Merit of the project: The project will address the low pass rate of gatekeeper courses including calculus, chemistry and physics. Strategies to improve this rate include: 1) Reforming the gatekeeper courses for STEM disciplines, 2) Motivating faculty to integrate research into the teaching of STEM disciplines, 3) Providing in-school tutoring for 1st and 2nd year STEM students, and 4) Providing opportunities for faculty development and in the use of the latest scientific technology. The project will also update the MVSU STEM program offerings by helping to bring a new Bioinformatics major online.