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College of Engineering Receives $2.25 M NSF HBCU-UP Implementation Project Grant
https://tnstatenewsroom.com/archives/32104

The National Science Foundation has awarded College of Engineering, Interim Dean, Professor Lin Li, Associate Professor and Associate Dean Catherine Armwood-Gordon, Associate Professor Charles McCurry, and Dean of Life and Physical Science Nolan McMurray a $2,250,000 NSF Implementation grant from July 15, 2023 to June 30, 2028. Their grant, “Implementation Project: Enhancement of CUREs-based Curriculum and Immersive Engineering Studio to Enhance Engineering Education and Retention of Underrepresented Engineers at TSU”, is to create a five-year pilot engineering curriculum that includes a pre-engineering program and course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs)-based immersive engineering studio to enhance underrepresented student retention and graduation at Tennessee State University. This will involve implementing a pre-engineering curriculum in Year 1 for incoming freshmen. A STEM Enhancement Institute will be formed to provide support to students who struggle with their STEM courses in their pre-engineering program. Students will participate in CUREs and projects in an immersive engineering studio every year to enhance their engagement and empowerment in STEM learning. The project will develop integration of CUREs and immersive engineering studio (CIES) with virtual/augmented reality facilitated instructional models to enhance students' visual-spatial ability, create a situated learning environment, encourage student engagement, and enable data-driven teaching decisions in STEM classrooms. The faculty team will structure an intervention around engineering curriculum to enhance students' learning commitment, motivation, and academic performance through the engineering CUREs-based curriculum and immersive engineering studio. The project aims to create a pipeline of trained undergraduate students with various engineering analysis and design skills, while also systematically studying the sociocultural factors affecting retention of underrepresented students in undergraduate engineering programs. Overall, our project aims to enhance the retention and success of underrepresented students in engineering programs at TSU through innovative pedagogical practices and interdisciplinary research.