Sacramento State awarded $1.5 million NSF grant to help expand STEM programs
Sacramento State has won significant seed money in its effort to grow STEM programs.
The University has been awarded a five-year, $1.5 million grant by the National Science Foundation (NSF) as part of the latter’s Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions Program (HSI Program). Sacramento State professors Lynn Tashiro (Center for Teaching and Learning) and Mary McCarthy-Hintz (Chemistry) are co-principal investigators on the grant proposal, Building Capacity: STEM Faculty Professional Learning in the Zone of Proximal Development. Di Xu, a professor of education at UC Irvine, also is a co-principal investigator.
The project seeks to build institutional capacity for improving undergraduate STEM teaching and learning. It will support efforts to improve the teaching effectiveness of STEM faculty and to advance knowledge about strategies that lead to increased use of evidence-based and equity-minded teaching strategies.
Sac State is among the first 31 colleges and universities to receive awards for NSF’s HSI program, funding 31 projects and totaling approximately $45 million. The grant runs Oct. 1, 2018, to Sept. 30, 2023.
About the Author
Alexis GajewskiAlexis Gajewski
Senior Content Strategist
Alexis Gajewski is a manufacturing writer and editor with nearly 20 years of experience covering the people, practices, and technologies that keep industrial facilities running. For more than a decade, she served as Senior Content Strategist for Plant Services, creating content for plant managers, engineers, and maintenance professionals on a variety of industrial topics.
During her tenure, Alexis worked to develop the brand’s digital strategy and helped launch and produce Great Question: A Manufacturing Podcast. She also created The Lighter Side of Manufacturing, a weekly blog that explored the inventive and sometimes humorous side of the industry.
Alexis co-founded Influential Women in Manufacturing, a recognition program that honored 49 women in its first two years, earned an industry award for Best Product Launch, and received a proclamation from Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and a commendation from U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth.
She also led newsroom operations and development at a large media company where she set editorial standards, developed training curriculum, and helped support AI adoption for more than 150 editors across 80+ brands spanning manufacturing, industrial processing, automation, and more.
Additionally, Alexis works as a freelance writer and editor, and her areas of interest include continuous improvement, the skilled workforce, and the role of emerging technology on the plant floor.
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