The Xavierite
Saint Xavier University (SXU) recently received a $1.46 million from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to support the school’s Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) programs and enrich the experience of STEM students at the undergraduate level.
The grant is the largest of its kind awarded in SXU’s history and is part of the NSF’s Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) initiative. The initiative is designed to augment the caliber of STEM courses of universities with student demographics that are 25 percent Hispanic or more.
“By addressing major challenges faced by many undergraduates majoring in STEM, Saint Xavier University expects to increase retention and graduation rates, which in turn will open doors to graduate level work and careers in STEM fields,” said the NSF’s award statement.
With a student population of about 38 percent Hispanics, SXU plans to use the money to bolster the Excellence and Positive Learning Opportunities and Research Experiences (EXPLORE) program, SXU’s in-house STEM initiative.
Dr. Julia Wiester, an Assistant Professor of Chemistry and one of five professors of the interdepartmental team in charge of the program, commented that the grant money will help “increase [STEM] opportunities for students.”
“We want to improve and increase all the hands-on, high-impact, experiential learning opportunities for students because that can help them get jobs… retention in STEM,” said Wiester.
Wiester remarked that the grant’s effects would manifest itself through paid undergraduate research, new research programs, additional scholarships, tours of professional laboratories and manu facturing sites, and other benefits aimed at strengthening the professional connections and practical knowledge of STEM students.
“…Something that I’m working on is a one-week May-term course in which case we visit different chemical and biology industries so [students] get an idea of what sort of STEM careers are available to them,” said Wiester.
Alongside traditional STEM courses, Wiester observed that non-STEM fields possessing strong synergy with the EXPLORE program were also taken into account regarding the usage of grant funds.
Professor of Philosophy Dr. Thomas Thorp co-instructs one such course. “…He teaches an interdisciplinary seminar every year on the Yellowstone National Park, and so he looks at the philosophy behind national parks. He actually co-teaches it with Dr. Elmendorf, so it has that Life Science and Philosophy aspect to it,” she said.
The most obvious improvement, however, is the allocation of the new STEM Studio on the third floor of the S-Wing in the Warde Academic Center. Though modest in size, the Studio has been warmly received by both students and faculty.
“During the day, it’s actually used a lot. We have students… study and… do homework problems… and they can discuss, and that’s something our Science students were really lacking,” said Wiester.
Wiester elaborated that plans were in the works to provide a Program Coordinator to the Studio to assist students with their academic goals and research, and to give industry consultation.
“…We wanted a place for them to do homework, to work collaboratively, to have… informal mentoring going on… It’s really a nice meeting space for our STEM students… It’s a little clubroom, and we just didn’t have that before,” she said.
Nevertheless, Wiester reflected that the grant would be disbursed throughout a five-year period, and that the opportunities available to STEM students would vary depending on how much of the grant money would be made accessible.
“I do have a budget about… how much is to be released for year one, two, three, four, five based on our goals and the projects we want to have each year. For the first year, we might only have… five research students funded, but by year two, we want to have 10, so therefore, the funding would go up,” said Wiester.
Moreover, the Assistant Professor indicated that, depending on the field and courses a student has taken, undergraduates can expect a variety of research experiences with the faculty.
“It really depends on the faculty, but I know Dr. Elmendorf… looks at a lot of the antimicrobial properties of different things… I do more with nanotechnologies…[and] how we can use them for different applications… Dr. Alappat is looking at some of the antioxidant properties that can be found from different types of tea,” said Wiester of some of the divergent avenues of research of the other program leads.
Regardless of the limitations, Wiester opined that the grant was a tremendous boon for the STEM-affiliated departments of the University.
“This is huge for us. It’s so exciting. It’s such a good opportunity for us… You know, [SXU has] this Yellowstone trip, but it had to be cancelled because it was a lot of money for students to travel to… We don’t want it to be based on who can pay… because we want to provide the opportunities for those who need it most,” she said.
Joshua Mira
News Reporter
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